In December, Arizona Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem suffered from flu-like symptoms â headache, fatigue, body aches and chills. But it wasnât the flu; he tested positive for COVID-19. Nearly three months later, his mother, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, died after battling throat cancer for over 40 years.
Those circumstances werenât enough to persuade Finchem, who is in his early 60s, to get a Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Finchem remains skeptical, he said, because he distrusts the federal government and top public health officials, heâs heard mixed messages about the vaccines on social media and television news, and he worries about long-term side effects.