I would hope that we could all agree on the basic ideas on what viruses are, how they infect and make the human body sick, how your immune system reacts to try and defeat viruses, and how vaccines in general work. I need these concepts understood in the general sense.
The mRNA vaccines are a novel approach to healthcare, but easy to understand (again in the general) if the previous ideas are accepted. In fact, it will immediately become clear that mRNA vaccines are safer and more reliable than previous "killed or weakened pathogen" vaccines. The "RNA" and "DNA" cause some people to skip a knowledge step and jump to some worrying but incorrect conclusions. The "m" is very important in that it removes from possibility a huge range of side effects.
By understanding these facts, it should be easy to intuit that masking will help mitigate, but not eliminate, a "direct strike" infection where someone sneezes or coughs in your general area. Maintaining separation of 6 feet is of little value. Plexiglass shield tend to inhibit local airflow and likely do more harm than good.
And overall, get vaccinated. Unless you're told by a physician not to, or are currently under 12 years old, getting a vaccination runs the likelihood of suffering a serious infection down to single digits. As the vaccine has only been in "general public" adoption for less than one year, the length of efficacy is still being studied, but the efficacy itself is not in question.
"Mandates" is a separate debate. I'm prepared to mention Thomas Hobbes, social contract theory, Rousseau, Locke, and Kantian ethics for starters. The executive summary is that we all greatly benefit from living in a social organization with other humans, that organization requires rules, and rules that serve the largest public good are ethical.
