evidence: Unvaccinated and misunderstood? Let's talk [...] It's disappointing, to say the least. For people who thought the decision to get a vaccine was an easy call — including me — it's a challenge to understand why so many would decline it. After all, had more people been vaccinated sooner, the Delta variant and the variants sure to follow might never pose the threat they do now. Indeed, with higher vaccination rates worldwide, the pandemic might be over by now. [...] Depending on where you get information, you might read or hear that all unvaccinated individuals seem like brainwashed, diehard anti-vaxxers who cannot, or will not, see the reality of the COVID risk, and don't seem to care about the impact of their decisions on others. Never mind that outright insults and casting blame are unlikely to change many minds. Painting everyone who declines or hesitates to get a COVID-19 vaccine with the same brush is a mistake.