There’s a lot of noise right now about vaccines. You’ve seen the headlines, heard the debates, maybe even felt the uncertainty creeping into conversations at family dinners or in your doctor’s waiting room. It can feel exhausting — and a little frightening.
That’s exactly why I’m so glad we participated in this webinar.
In the latest podcast of NJ Advocates for Aging Well, I joined Kim Boller, Executive Director of Grandparents for Vaccines, to talk about something that doesn’t always make it into policy debates or cable news segments: personal memory, and what it has to teach us.
A Movement Born from Love and Memories
Grandparents for Vaccines didn’t start in a boardroom or a government agency. It started with a feeling many grandparents recognize: We know something younger generations don’t. And we cannot stay quiet.
The organization was founded in September 2025, launched on Grandparents Day, by Dr. Arthur Lavin, Donna Gaffney, and Teri Mills. All of them belong to what some call the “polio generation.” They grew up in a world where children disappeared into hospital wards and didn’t always come home. Where church bells rang not in celebration, but in grief.
They built Grandparents for Vaccines not to lecture, not to argue, but to tell stories — because research tells us that personal stories from trusted people are among the most effective tools we have for reaching hesitant parents.
And who do families trust more than grandparents? I’ve watched vaccine hesitancy reach into schools and communities in ways that keep me up at night. One of my earliest childhood memories was being very sick with the mumps. I can’t imagine my granddaughter Nora, not yet two and fully vaccinated, experiencing any of the diseases I endured before vaccines were available.
That’s not an abstraction. That’s love in action.
I’m grateful that Kim Boller, Cathy Rowe, DrPH, Executive Director of NJ Advocates for Aging Well, gave this movement a platform. In our conversation, we walk through how Grandparents for Vaccines works, why grandparents are uniquely positioned as messengers, and what New Jersey families can do right now — whether they’re grandparents ready to share their stories, parents navigating confusing information, or healthcare providers looking for new ways to reach hesitant families.
Why This Moment Matters
You might be wondering: Aren’t vaccines settled science? Why do we need a whole movement?
Here’s the honest answer: the science hasn’t changed. The vaccines are safe. They work. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ childhood immunization schedule remains unchanged, and for good reason.
But trust has changed. One in six parents in the United States has delayed or skipped vaccines for their children. Measles, declared eliminated in this country in 2000, has returned — with more than a thousand confirmed cases reported across 24 states in early 2026. Diseases that our grandparents watched kill their classmates are, quietly, making a comeback.
In that environment, data alone doesn’t move people. What moves people is a grandmother sitting across the table and saying, “I watched a child die from this. I don’t want that for your baby.”
What You’ll Hear in the Webinar
In our half-hour conversation, Kim and I covered:
- What Grandparents for Vaccines is and how it came to be
- The power of lived experience — why stories from people who remember polio, measles, and whooping cough land differently than statistics
- How to talk to hesitant parents — not to win an argument, but to open a door
- What New Jersey families can do — how to get involved, share your story, or simply share this conversation with someone who needs it
- Why this is a nonpartisan issue — grandparents cutting across political lines, united by the fact that they love their grandchildren more than they love being right
We also talk about the moments that stop you cold — stories like Jan’s, a woman from Washington state who watched her twin brother Frankie die of polio when they were children, then contracted it herself days later. These are not distant historical footnotes. They are the living memories of people who are still with us, still talking, still hoping we’ll listen.
An Invitation — For All of Us
If you are a grandparent, this movement belongs to you. Your stories — whether joyful or heartbreaking, triumphant or tinged with grief — are exactly what today’s parents need to hear. You don’t need a platform or a microphone. You need a memory and a grandchild worth protecting. Record a short video on your phone. Write a few paragraphs. Tell the story at the dinner table. Every single story matters.
If you are a parent, we’re not here to shame you or argue with you. We’re here to share what we’ve seen, and to ask you to consider what vaccines have already spared your family from.
If you are a healthcare provider, advocate, or aging services professional, this movement gives you new language and new allies, trusted community voices who can reach hesitant families in ways that a brochure or a news article simply cannot.
And if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you believe that grandparents have a unique and powerful role to play in turning the tide, there is something more you can do.
Become a state leader. Grandparents for Vaccines is actively growing its network of volunteer state leads who help organize storytelling events, engage with community partners, and amplify this message across their states. It doesn’t require a medical degree or a public health background. It requires passion, commitment, and the kind of lived wisdom that only comes with having watched a few decades of history unfold. If that sounds like you, the movement needs you.
Watch the Full Webinar
▶️ Aging 154: Grandparents for Vaccines — Watch on YouTube
Visit, Join & Get Involved
The home base for this movement is grandparentsforvaccines.org. There you can:
- Read and watch stories from grandparents across the country who remember what vaccine-preventable diseases actually looked like
- Share your own story — in writing or on video — and add your voice to a chorus that is growing every day
- Find or start a chapter in your state, or inquire about becoming a state leader
- Connect with the community of grandparents, healthcare providers, and advocates who are doing this work together
This is a volunteer-led movement. It runs on stories, on relationships, and on the stubborn conviction that love is a more powerful force than fear.
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