Remember antivaxxers saying the vaccine was rushed, and some of them even suggesting Biden was getting money for it?

Well, Trump literally rushed the vaccine's approval, and Pfizer was a donor to Trump.

Republicans wanted to keep making money, so they didn't want to shut down, and so they convinced their base that Covid wasn't serious. But when the vaccine was developed that could help get thing back to normal, said base had by that point decided any precaution against Covid was bad.