DILLSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Plenty of people are refusing to get vaccinated, but a Midstate man hopes this story might change their mind. He’s mourning the death of his son, a death he says did not have to happen.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, William Stough has been taking precautions.

“We go into stores, we wear our masks. We wear gloves,” Stough said.

He and his wife got the vaccine, but his son who lived in Florida did not.

“My son was in good health. He was an ex-Marine. He did eight years in the service,” Stough said.

His son, who shares his dad’s name, caught COVID at the beginning of July. A week later he was in the hospital.

“Liver was failing, the kidney was failing, both lungs are full of COVID pneumonia,” Stough said.

Some days he seemed to be getting better.

“Saturday we got word that he was turned a little bit to the worse again and then Sunday morning his heart just gave out,” Stough said.

William says being unvaccinated cost his son his life.

“It’s very hard,” Stough said, fighting back tears.

But he wants others to learn from his story and stop buying into misinformation.

“If you listen to the doctors, and what they’re saying, it is safe,” Stough said. “It’s safer than getting the coronavirus.”

For those who won’t seem to budge Stough has this to say, “You’re playing a Russian roulette game and you’re going to lose.”

It’s why many businesses are starting to require staff to get vaccinated.

“Generally I can tell you under federal or state law there’s nothing that would prohibit an employer from requiring employees to get vaccines,” Larry Weisberg, attorney with Weisberg Cummings PC, said.

Weisberg says there is a narrow exemption for religious beliefs and those with medical issues. For everyone else, “Employment at will in Pennsylvania means an employer can fire you at any time for any reason unless it’s illegal, but the quid pro quo is that an employee is free to not work there,” Weisberg said.