In my experience they are just anxious about getting something they don't understand, doing nothing is super easy/comfortable, and some media scares the last bit of uncertainty out of them.
Speaking from my own point of view, the reason I'm not getting the vaccines is in large part driven by how obvious it seems that the push is not about public health.
For one bit of the large body of evidence of this, that restrictions on those who are unvaccinated are applied even to those who have natural immunity, which is durable and robust, and almost certainly longer-lasting than vaccine immunity (https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-37...), means to me that there is something else afoot rather than merely public health.
To boot, I am very healthy, not fat, get plenty of vitamin D and fresh air, and am thus basically more at risk from driving to the store than from covid, though it's hard to say for sure what the real numbers are--suffice to say, the risk does not meet the threshold I'd need for me to take any action beyond just getting fitter and healthier and happier every day--which I'd try to do anyway.
I understand frustration and skepticism about the politics of covid response, but I don't understand that as a motivation to decline the vaccine.
While the risk of death from the virus is low for healthy people, it's far, far higher than the risk posed by the virus. Further, many healthy people do get seriously ill (and some die) from the virus including cases of long-lasting side-effects (inability to exercise due to damage to the respiratory system which will certainly manifest in poorer health outcomes over time). Further still, even if you aren't likely to be seriously affected by the virus, taking the vaccine helps to reduce your risk of catching it in the first place and thus spreading it to others who might be less healthy--to be honest, if you were the only person who was impacted I wouldn't care, but this is solidly a case where the decisions you make affect others.
I really support people who are affected by the increasing partisanship of our institutions, but I do wish they would find a better way to vent their frustrations.
There is no reason for me to get the vaccine at all. I'm not at risk of contracting covid. That's the overriding reason. It's a pharmaceutical I do not need.
That the push is being made so insanely is just another reason to avoid it--we don't know what the actual motivations are of those pushing it, but we do know it's not primarily public health, otherwise as I stated, those 120mm Americans with robust antibodies from recovering from covid infection would never be considered any different from the vaccinated.
It's not partisanship, because as far as I can tell, public health authorities have debased themselves and lost all credibility completely in the past 1.5 years, and this is across the spectrum of global health agencies. The American political parties are in union and aside from a couple dissenters are in on the insanity.
When someone or thing hides their motivations, doing what they want seems crazy to me.
