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CHICAGO – They admitted that they might show up months ago. Many were glad that they had finally done the right thing. A few grumbled that they had little choice.

In one day of the last week, more than half a million people It flowed across the United States to high school gyms, pharmacies, and buses that were converted into mobile clinics. Then they rolled up their sleeves and received their coronavirus vaccine.

Americans currently vaccinated in the pandemic: reluctant, anxious, procrastinating.

In dozens of interviews on Thursday in eight states, at vaccine clinics, pharmacies, and pop-up mobile sites, Americans who finally arrived to get vaccinated offered a snapshot of a nation at a crossroads — facing a new wave of viruses, but only slowly. embracing vaccines that can stop it.

People who are currently vaccinated are not members of the enthusiastic crowd rushing to early appointments. However, they are not in the group that strongly oppose vaccines.

Instead, they take the middle ground: For months, they didn’t want to get a coronavirus vaccine until something or someone—a permanent family member, job need, a growing sense that the vaccine was safe—convinced them otherwise.

How many people ultimately join this group and how quickly can determine the course of the coronavirus in the USA.

Some of those newly vaccinated said they made their decision suddenly, even haphazardly, after months of inactivity. A Portland, Ore. woman was waiting for an incentive before she was shot, and when she heard that a pop-up clinic at a farmers’ market was handing out $150 gift cards, she decided it was time. A 60-year-old man in Los Angeles spontaneously stopped by for a vaccination once as he realized there was no queue at a clinic. One construction worker said the work schedule made it difficult to shoot.

Many people said they came for the vaccine after intense pressure from their family or friends.

“‘You’re going to die. Grace Carper, 15, said they had recently discussed when to get her mother, Nikki White, of Urbandale, Iowa, discussing when to get her vaccinations. Ms. White, 38, woke up Thursday and said she would. If you want to get your vaccinations, get up,” he said, and the two went to a Hy-Vee supermarket together.

Others were struck by practical concerns: plans to attend a college that required students to be vaccinated, a desire to spend time socializing with high school classmates, or a job where unvaccinated employees were told to wear masks. Their responses show that powers or greater restrictions on the unvaccinated, which are increasingly the subject of debate by employers and government officials, can make a significant difference.

Audrey Sliker, 18, of Southington, Conn., said she was hit because the governor of New York announced it was required for all students attending the State University of New York schools. She plans to become a freshman at SUNY Cobleskill this fall.

“I don’t like needles in general,” Middlefield said, leaving a white tent with a mobile vaccination site in Conn. “I mean, it’s more like, ‘Do I need to take it?’

Many interviewees described their choices in personal, somewhat complex terms.

Willie Pullen, 71, snacked on a pack of popcorn as he was leaving an immunization site in Chicago, one of the few people who arrived there that day. He wasn’t exactly against vaccines. Saying that almost everyone in his life has been vaccinated, Acar said that although he is at greater risk due to his age, he believes that he is healthy and strong enough to think about it for a while.

It was the illness of a friend’s aging mother that drove him to a high school on Chicago’s West Side with free vaccines. Mr. Pullen wanted to visit her. He felt it would be irresponsible to do this without the vaccine.

“I was holding on,” said Mr Pullen. “I had reservations about the safety of the vaccine and the government that made it. I just wanted to wait and see.”

‘I’m still not sure if it’s safe’

The campaign to vaccinate Americans against the coronavirus on a large scale began earlier this year in a roaring, highly energetic move, where millions of vaccines are made every day and coveted vaccine appointments are celebrated with hilarious selfies on social media. The effort peaked on April 13, when an average of 3.38 million doses were administered in the United States. The Biden administration has set a goal to have 70 percent of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4.

But since mid-April, vaccinations have been steadily declining and have stabilized in recent weeks. Weeks after the 4th of July benchmark passed, the effort is now decreased, dispensing an average of 537,000 doses each day – a drop of about 84 percent from peak.

About 68.7 percent of American adults got at least one shot. Conservative commentators and politicians have questioned the safety of three vaccines the Food and Drug Administration has approved for emergency use, and in some parts of the country opposition to the vaccine is tied to politics. An analysis by The New York Times vaccination records and voter registration It found that in every county in the United States, counties where the majority of residents voted for Donald J. Trump’s re-election both had lower willingness to receive the coronavirus vaccine and actual vaccination rates on average.

Despite delayed vaccination efforts, there are signs that a new surge in coronavirus cases and worrying headlines about the highly contagious Delta variant may push more Americans to consider getting vaccinated. On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there was “encouraging data” showing that the five states with the highest case rates — Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Nevada — are seeing higher numbers of vaccines.

In Florida, a clinic in Sarasota County was quiet, a brightly lit waiting area filled with mostly empty chairs. A few people got in, usually no more than one or two people per hour. Recently, they are vaccinating less than 30 people a day there.

Elysia Emanuele, 42-year-old paralegal, arrived for the shoot. One of the factors in his decision, increasing number of cases in the stateHe watched anxiously.

“If everything had gone well, if we had just shut down and did what we had to do and it had apparently disappeared,” he said, “I think I would have been less likely to get vaccinated.”

In the shadow of a highway underpass in South Los Angeles, volunteers and vaccine candidates tried to talk over the roar of passing cars.

Ronald Gilbert, 60, said he didn’t really believe in vaccines and was never a fan of needles, but with an increase in cases, he thought it was “better to be safe than sorry”.

“Now I feel better having this, I seriously do,” she said. “I’ll walk like a rooster, with my chest up, ‘Did you get the vaccine? I’ve been vaccinated.'”

News of the delta variant also changed the mind of 33-year-old Josue Lopez, who did not plan to get vaccinated after her entire family tested positive for the coronavirus in December.

“I thought I was immune, but with this variant, if it’s more dangerous, maybe it’s not enough,” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s safe even now.”

‘We must fight for each of them’

At a vaccine facility at Malcolm X College in Chicago, one of the workers there, Sabina Richter, said it was easy to find people to vaccinate. More recently, they’ve had to offer incentives: transitions to an amusement park in the northern suburbs and Lollapalooza.

“Some people go in and still hesitate,” he said. “We must fight for each of them.”

Cherie Lockhart, who works at the aged and disabled care facility in Milwaukee, said she was worried about vaccines because she didn’t trust a medical system that she felt had always treated blacks differently.

He said he wasn’t anti-vaccine, just lingered until there was something to help him make sure. His mother finally convinced him.

“My mother never misled me,” said Ms. Lockhart, 35. “I feel like this is right in the heart of my heart,” she said. That’s why I prayed for it. And finally, I went with my guiding light.”

Most new vaccine seekers said they wanted to see how the vaccines affected Americans who were in a rush to get vaccinated early.

“I know people who have this disease and don’t get sick, that’s why,” said Lisa Thomas, a 45-year-old home health worker from Portland, Ore. there is a lot to benefit from it and from it.”

For Cindy Adams, who works at a Des Moines insurance company, it was her job to wear a mask as an unvaccinated person who pushed her to the Polk County Health Department driver’s clinic for her first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Ms Adams, 52, said she was concerned about the possible long-term effects of the vaccines. But now her husband, children, and most of her extended family are vaccinated, as are most of her co-workers.

“Honestly, I’m sick of wearing masks,” said Ms. Adams. “We had an event yesterday and I had to wear five hours because I had a lot of people around me. And I was sick of it.

“Everyone else is healthy and has had no serious side effects, so I decided to join the crowd.”

Julie Bosman Reported from Chicago. Contributed reports Matt Craig from Los Angeles, Elizabeth the Genie Sarasota, Fla., Timmy Facciola, Middlefield, Conn., Ann Hinga Klein From Des Moines, Emily Shetler Portland, Ore. and Dan Simmons from Milwaukee.