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Today, the Pfizer vaccine received official FDA-Approved status. Some who have decided to not get vaccinated have pointed to the fact that the vaccines are not FDA-approved. If you are someone who offered this as a reason for not getting vaccinated, I especially hope that you will consider what I have to say in this post. And if you are someone who is vaccinated, I hope you’ll read this as well – you may find it helpful. Primarily, though, in this post, I’m addressing you who pointed to the lack of FDA approval as a justification or reason for not getting vaccinated.
I have a question for you and also some principles to bring up. First, my question: Now that the FDA has given approval status to the Pfizer vaccine, will you get it? If not, then why did you ever point to the fact that the vaccines were not FDA-approved in defense of your decision to not get vaccinated? Consider this scenario. Suppose a young boy goes to visit his grandmother every weekend, and every weekend she asks him to help her with the dishes. But he decides that he isn’t going to do the dishes and he has a reason too. He tells his grandma, “But Grandma, your hotwaterheater is broken and your water is too cold – it hurts my hands to do the dishes.” Months pass and one weekend, the boy shows up at his grandmother’s house and she says to him, “I have great news! Your uncle dropped by and fixed my water heater, so you can help me with the dishes now!” So, what would you think if, rather than helping his grandmother with the dishes, the boy were to instead offer another reason as to why he can’t or shouldn’t do the dishes? I think you, like most everyone else, would recognize that the boy was being disingenuous with his first reason. The fact is, if he would refuse to do the dishes whether the water is cold, warm, or hot, the temperature of the water obviously had nothing to do with his refusal. His actual reason must be something else. He just gave the reason of the water temperature because it served his purpose. If he was being honest and genuine when he pointed to the cold water as a reason for not doing dishes, once the hot water was fixed, he would have changed his behavior.
So, back to the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine. Were you being genuine and honest when you pointed to the lack of FDA approval as a reason for not getting vaccinated? If so, then has the new approval changed your view and your vaccination plans? If not – if you are still just as decided upon not getting vaccinated, then this is actually a real opportunity for you to learn something important about your way of thinking on this issue. If you are just as determined to not get vaccinated now as you were before the FDA’s approval, then obviously, the lack of FDA approval was never your real reason for not getting vaccinated. But if FDA approval didn’t bear any weight with you, it reveals that you were being like the boy in our story. The reason why this is such an opportunity for you is that if you are reading this and if you are able to see that it’s true that you’ve been less than honest in your reasoning on this point – that you were just using the lack of FDA approval as a justification, not a genuine reason, then it reveals to you that on this issue of vaccines, you have some biases that have clouded your judgment. If you can see that your reasoning on this has been flawed, then I invite you to please re-examine this issue.
If the boy continued to refuse to do the dishes after the water heater was fixed, and if his grandmother kindly pointed out to him that he was being disingenuous when he gave his former reason, what would be the right thing for him to do? Wouldn’t it include some self-reflection? I think we would all agree that he should really examine his motives with a willingness to recognize and acknowledge his dishonest reasoning. And, of course, he should really consider helping grandma with those dishes!
