WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Plenty of Georgians don't intend to get the COVID vaccine, at least not right away.
A recent PBS poll showed 49 percent of Republican men claim they are unwilling to do it – though the skeptics reach into many communities.
The distrust among skeptics isn’t just about the vaccine. To some, it’s also very much about the politics.
"Mandatory anything from the government is not cool," said Michael Straughan, who runs the Firearms Training Academy near Woodstock.
He’s the lead trainer in what he describes as a military-grade firearms simulator. He's also a political conservative who plans to skip the COVID vaccine.
"We are all Americans. We have the freedom to do what we believe is right and is in our interest without hurting anybody else," Straughan said. "I do not think the COVID vaccine should be forced upon our national community."
Straughan said he thinks the vaccines haven’t been tested enough.
"I’ll never get the vaccination even if they prove it to be worthwhile," added Andrew Wasitowski, who works in the same firearms store. He's also a conservative who takes his skepticism a step further.
"I do believe that a lot of this COVID nightmare, that a lot of it is flu related," Wasitowski added. "I think they kind of blew that out of the water, kind of as a propaganda tool during the elections. And now it’s just kind of carrying on."
He said the pandemic was overstated – and the government’s reaction to it was overreaching.
The store is in Cherokee County, which former President Donald Trump carried easily in the last two elections. It represents an industry which markets firearms with messaging about freedom and self-reliance. The pandemic – and its new rules – seemed to challenge that message.
"That makes me not want to line up, and give up my rights, and go get a vaccine," said Nico Straughan, another conservative worker in the same store.
"I think it should be an at-will choice. And I hope it will stay that way," added Michael Straughan, who says he isn’t ruling out eventually getting the vaccine. But he stresses it will be only when he’s ready, and on his own terms.
It's important to note that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said repeatedly that the vaccines are safe and effective. Millions of people in the country have received vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history, the CDC claims.
They recommend Americans to get the shots. Gov. Brian Kemp is also encouraging Georgians to get vaccinated.
"Vaccination is our ticket, as you well know, back to normalcy," Kemp said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon. "The more people who are vaccinated, the more lives we save, and the quicker we can all get back to our normal way of life."
Here's a list of who is eligible in Georgia.