There was once an old joke about law school. At the first day of class, the Dean would look out at the 1L’s and say,

“Look to the right of you and then look to the left of you . . . one of you won’t be here in three years.”

That same reasoning applies today.

One out of every three people eligible to get the vaccine have decided for one reason or another not to get the free vaccine.

If you are in line at the grocery store, there is a strong chance that you or the person in front or behind you in line have decided currently not to get vaccinated.

Yesterday, I had a friend share an article with me. The reason she shared it was because of the Pink Goldfish approach it took.

The article was titled, “The Drug That Cracked COVID.”

When I say article, it was more like a novella. At 9,492 words, it told the amazing story of five doctors on a crusade against the establishment. They had found the miracle drug. It was low-cost and had won a Nobel Prize in 2015. Big pharma wants to blacklist it.

Not knowing why she shared the article, I replied to my friend:

“Have you gotten vaccinated? Tell me you are not pinning your hopes of staying out of the hospital and dying on a horse dewormer?”

What I didn’t realize is that my friend is firmly in the anti-vaccination camp.

We began a dialogue of respectful messages. Over the course of many comments, I heard 10 reasons not to get vaccinated.

A few were personal: I trust my immune system, there are therapeutic options, there are pre-emptive measures, and I’m not afraid to die.

I shared to my friend that it just wasn’t about her:

“I hope you don’t get the virus. Like Joe Rogan, you probably don’t need the vaccine to survive this. More importantly, I hope you don’t get it and unknowingly pass it along to someone who has comorbidities.” 

Not getting the vaccine is kind of like deciding you are going to drive your car 90 mph on a city street with no rearview mirror. You are healthy, you’ve got a seatbelt and airbags, so you’ll most likely survive if you get into a wreck.

But in order to drive 90 mph, you are inevitably going to take risks. The challenge is that you can’t see those cars you pass. You might cause a multi-car accident. One out of six people in that accident is going to face serious illness or death.

Or you might cause someone to swerve to avoid you. They, unfortunately, jump the curb and sideswipe a grandparent and their grandkids.

If you are healthy, don’t get it for you. Get it for those that can’t get the vaccine or for those still at risk of dying if they get a breakthrough infection.

In the words of the Pope, “It is the moral choice because it is about your life but also the lives of others.”

We’ve lost over 650,000 people in this country. That’s like having two 9/11s each week since this started. Over 3,500 have been healthcare first responders. The sad thing is that we now have the ability to stop the planes each week.

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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.

Find Stan’s in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops, and Goldfish tank programs at StanPhelps.com.