What the blind men and the elephant teach us about the unvaxxed.

There is an adage that the quality of any decision is based on the quality of the information used to make the decision. What is often forgotten, as it is assumed, is that the completeness of the information also matters.

Much like the parable of the blind men and the elephant — where the blind men’s understanding of what an elephant is is based on whichever part of the elephant they touch — we all have the tendency to claim absolute truths based on our subjective and inherently limited experiences.

Hence, as a society, instead of branding the unvaxxed by choice as irresponsible self-centered members of society who are disproportionately consuming public resources and endangering the lives of others, we should seek to expand their limited knowledge about the vaccines and the virus. On their part, the unvaxxed by choice, should reciprocate by suspending judgment, considering the possibility that they could be misinformed, and not feel humiliated if they eventually weigh all the information and decide to get vaxxed.

Of course, I am not naive to believe that all unvaxxed by choice do so for logical reasons where more information will help. Some are unvaxxed by choice for ideological reasons and for them the facts don’t matter. What I am advocating is that the current push to brand all unvaxxed by choice as one group is counter-productive and it will, in my opinion, lead to greater division in society.

Let us help the “blind” to see.