Something is happening.

In New Jersey, a grandmother and veteran nurse wrote about standing in line for the polio vaccine as a child and fearing what happens when vaccination rates begin to slip.

In Florida, a state leader for Grandparents for Vaccines urged families to protect children through evidence-based immunization and intergenerational responsibility.

In South Florida, the Op-Ed Nurses made the case plainly: grandparents must forcefully defend vaccines at a time when misinformation and complacency threaten hard-won public health gains.

And at the same time, Grandparents for Vaccines named its first Executive Director.

This is not coincidence.
It is momentum.

The Voices

In the Cape May County Herald, Gail Molnar Pfeifer, RN, MA — New Jersey leader for Grandparents for Vaccines — wrote “Schoolchildren Need to Be Vaccinated.” She grounded her argument not in ideology, but in memory: classmates lost to polio, childhood illnesses before routine vaccination, and the fragile nature of community immunity when coverage begins to decline.

In the Naples Daily News, Beth Summer, a Florida state leader, stepped forward with a clear message: protecting children through vaccination is not optional, and grandparents carry both credibility and responsibility in that conversation.

In the Sun Sentinel, the Op-Ed Nurses, Donna Gaffney and Teri Mills, reinforced that same urgency. Grandparents cannot remain quiet while public confidence in vaccines erodes. Silence does not protect children. Speaking does.

Taken together, these are not isolated opinion pieces. They are evidence of a movement learning to speak in unison — across states, across publications, across communities. The message is steady and consistent: grandparents remember what vaccine-preventable disease looks like, and they do not want their grandchildren to relearn those lessons the hard way.

The Structure

Movements begin with voice.

But voice alone is not enough.

On February 10, 2026, Grandparents for Vaccines announced that Kimberly Boller, PhD, has been named the organization’s Inaugural Executive Director. The appointment marks a deliberate transition — from a founder-led, volunteer-powered initiative to a national organization intentionally building the systems needed to sustain growth.

Dr. Boller brings more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, systems change, research, and community health education. Her role is not symbolic; it is structural. She will focus on strengthening support for volunteers, expanding fundraising capacity, coordinating national engagement, and building the operational foundation that allows advocacy to endure.

The timing matters. As grassroots voices rise in newspapers across the country, the organization itself is building the framework to support them.

Voice can ignite attention.
Structure sustains impact.

What we are witnessing right now is both happening at once.

Why This Chapter Matters

Vaccination rates in some communities are slipping. Public trust is being tested. Misinformation moves quickly, often faster than correction.

At the same time, grandparents are stepping forward — not with panic, but with memory.

They remember polio wards.
They remember measles outbreaks.
They remember standing in school gymnasiums waiting for vaccines that changed everything.

That memory carries weight.

Now it is being paired with structure.

Grandparents for Vaccines launched on Grandparents Day in September 2025. In less than a year, it has developed state leadership across multiple regions, published opinion pieces in major newspapers, built partnerships with pediatric and nursing leaders, and established executive leadership to guide continued expansion.

This is what it looks like when conviction meets capacity.

As a school nurse, I see what is at stake every day — infants too young to be vaccinated, students with medical vulnerabilities, families who trust that community immunity still holds. Grandparents understand this instinctively. They have lived through what happens when prevention falters. Now they are organizing to ensure it does not.

This is the next chapter.

And it is very good news for children.

Grandparents For Vaccines – Press Release Announcing Inaugural Executive Director