How a vaccine-hesitant sheriff became a vocal proponent

Every morning before the dew has dried on Andre Brunson’s 80 acres of land along Alabama’s Uphapee Creek, he swings his pickup truck out on to the gravel road leading from his house in Alabama. When heading for his eight-hour shift, he packs his bulletproof vest, gun, flashlight and now – since coronavirus sent him to the hospital in January – an asthma inhaler and a nebulizer. Brunson lives in Tuskegee, where he’s the county sheriff. “I’m a big strong guy and I just thought it was never going to affect me. Once I got Covid I realized I’m just like everybody else,” he said.