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Idea: 'I Got Vaccinated' Pin

A sticker is not good enough.

In many places around the United States you get an "I Voted" sticker when you exit a polling place, or one comes with your mail-in ballot. The idea is to show people that you participated in your civic duty by voting, thus encouraging others to do the same.

It may seem corny, but I think we need pins that say "Vaccinated" on the pin or show a hypodermic needle or something that indicates you were vaccinated for the coronavirus. The idea is that you wear this on an outer layer of clothing, perhaps a jacket for this time of year, indicating that you received a COVID-19 vaccine. 

People need to feel comfortable that they are doing the right thing and that if others are getting vaccinated and they keep seeing pins, why don't they go ahead and get vaccinated when the vaccines become available. If we can get enough people to participate, via a public education campaign, and to wear a pin after being vaccinated, it might help in being a tipping point for the culture of everyone becoming protected by a vaccination and squelching this plague that we are dealing with in 2020. 

I'll write more on this, but what's been missing to date in our preparations for a vaccine and vaccinations is the public education campaign to prepare people to trust the vaccine — which in today's world is no small task. 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.