The Relentless School Nurse: Once Upon a Time, When There were NO Vaccines…

Grandparents for Vaccines has released its first newsletter, marking a powerful new chapter in a movement that is mobilizing an often-overlooked force in public health: 67 million grandparents who want a safer, healthier future for the children we love.

This inaugural issue gives shape, voice, and momentum to a growing, national, nonpartisan effort grounded in a simple truth:

Grandparents carry memories of a time before vaccines that need to be heard

Once upon a time, when there were no vaccines, families lived with fear that today’s parents can hardly imagine — fear of polio in the summer, measles in the winter, whooping cough year-round. Once upon a time, when there were no vaccines, hospital wards overflowed, classrooms emptied, and parents prayed their children would survive childhood illnesses that now feel distant or abstract.

Grandparents for Vaccines is bringing those memories forward not to frighten, but to illuminate.
Not to shame, but to guide.
Not to win arguments, but to protect children.

Because while not every family may listen right away, every child still deserves the safety that vaccines provide — and every grandparent’s voice adds strength to that truth.

As a school nurse, an advocate, and now a grandmother myself, I joined Grandparents for Vaccines for one reason: my sweet granddaughter, Nora. She deserves the protection that vaccines provide — and she deserves a world where adults use their voices to stand up for her health and future.

Grandparents for Vaccines is offering exactly that.

Who Are Grandparents for Vaccines?

Grandparents for Vaccines is a volunteer-led, nationwide organization built on lived experience and loving truth-telling. It brings together grandparents who remember what life looked like before modern vaccines. Some of my earliest childhood memories were of being sick with now preventable, but invisible illnesses, including measles, mumps, and chicken pox. 

Grandparents carry memories that young parents today have never seen. Instead of letting those memories fade, this organization channels them into advocacy rooted in compassion, not confrontation. It is explicitly nonpartisan and fiercely pro-child.

And right now, when misinformation is louder than ever, their voices — our voices — are needed.

Why This First Newsletter Matters

This inaugural newsletter feels like a collective deep breath, followed by a clear, steady call: Here we are. We’re organized. And we’re ready.

It highlights the national launch this fall and the media coverage that has already brought compelling stories to living rooms and news feeds across the country. It shows how quickly the movement has taken shape — from an idea shared among a few concerned grandparents to a coordinated network with defined roles, state leads, and clear opportunities for action.

For those of us in school health and public health advocacy, this should feel familiar. The most powerful movements are born from lived experience and sustained by people willing to step forward and say, “Not on my watch.”

Grandparents for Vaccines is now one of those movements.

The Heart of the Movement: Stories That Refuse to Be Forgotten

At the center of this organization are stories — not statistics, not talking points, but memories:

• Sugar-cube polio vaccines

• Classmates who didn’t survive measles

• Parents who held their breath during outbreaks

• The relief, almost disbelief, when vaccines transformed childhood

These stories are wisdom. They are warnings. And they are love made visible.

The newsletter elevates these memories as advocacy tools, reminding younger generations that vaccine-preventable diseases are not dusty relics of the past. When vaccination rates fall, they return.

Grandparents, with all their generational credibility, can cut through the noise. They can bring the conversation back where it belongs: to protecting the children we cherish.

A New Advocacy Home for Grandparents — Including Me

This newsletter lays out the many ways grandparents can turn concern into action:
sharing stories, connecting with state leaders, speaking with local media, and partnering with community organizations.

Grandparents for Vaccines is building a state-by-state network so that these voices are heard not just nationally, but town by town, just as public health work must be.

I joined because of Nora.
Many others will join because of the grandchildren who shaped their hearts.
Maybe you will join for the child whose picture sits on your fridge or whose artwork decorates your office.

This movement is not abstract. It’s intimate.
It’s personal.
It’s love-driven.

An Invitation and a Call to Action

If you are a grandparent, this first newsletter is your invitation — maybe even your nudge — to step into a role you may not have realized you held: trusted public health leader within your own family and community.

If you work with families, as so many school nurses and educators do, Grandparents for Vaccines is a resource you can share with the grandparents in your life who want to help but aren’t sure how.

And if you, like me, want to honor the next generation with action, not just worry, here is your moment.

Here’s how to support the movement:

• Read the first newsletter.

• Join Grandparents for Vaccines — whether you’re a grandparent or a caring adult who believes in vaccine-protected futures.

• Share your story or encourage a grandparent you know to share theirs.

• Invite others to join — love and advocacy grow best when shared.

This is just the beginning. Grandparents for Vaccines is a rising chorus, and every new voice makes that chorus stronger, steadier, and harder to ignore.

For Nora.
For your grandchild.
For every child who deserves the protection vaccines offer.

Let’s raise our voices — together.