How Grandparents are Rebuilding Trust in Vaccines

Group is mobilizing 67 million grandparents to change the national conversation on childhood vaccinations

PART TWO of TWO PARTS

By JOHN KEREZY eyeoncleveland.com founder

CLEVELAND –From coast to coast, a growing movement in the U.S. is taking place, comprised of concerned grandparents who are aiming to put a spotlight upon and ignite family-to family conversations via story telling about a critical need in society today.

The mission: to raise and restore public confidence in vaccinations, especially in childhood vaccinations against the diseases of mumps, measles, rubella (MMR), and diphtheria, tetanus, and polio (DPT).

The group Grandparents For Vaccines (GFV) was officially launched on September 7, 2025. In its first six months of existence, GFV has

Amassed more than 5,100 people who’ve joined mailing lists.
Had 30+ stories about the non-profit in two dozen major media markets.
Have 80 state leaders helping advance the GFV message to important constituencies in nearly all 50 states.
Placed about a dozen columns about the importance of vaccines in newspapers (see some links below) and with Rachel Maddow, Forbes, and The Bulwark
Exploded with a strong social media presence, using the platforms of Facebook, BlueSky, TikTok, Instagram and Linked In to spread its purpose and story.

As explained in Part One of this two-part series, a combination of information disorders (misinformation, disinformation, mal-information) and politicalization of vaccines has led to great declines in the percentage of Americans who trust in vaccinations. GFV is aiming to change that.

With an uptick in grandparents, allies of children and supporters of vaccinations who joined GFV others began taking notice of the group, including Katelyn Jetelina, founder of Your Local Epidemiologist. Jetelina, a trusted epidemiologist, is known for translating complex public health data into clear, practical guidance in her weekly publications. Jetelina combines rigorous, evidence-based analysis with a calm, accessible style that helps people make informed decisions without fear or confusion. Recognizing the immediate impact of Grandparents for Vaccines, Your Local Epidemiologist named the group as one of the top 20 public health wins of 2025, highlighting it as part of a new wave of coalitions “standing up for science” and strengthening public trust in vaccines.

The national media also is taking notice, evidenced by a story that was published last week in The Bulwark, “Meet the Horrified Grandparents Fighting for Vaccines” https://www.thebulwark.com/p/meet-the-horrified-grandparents-fighting-for-vaccines?r=cuxv&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true The article created quite a stir. Not only did it receive 1,000 likes in the first 48 hours, over a thousand individuals joined Grandparents for Vaccines as a result of the story. Many of them are now sharing their own experience living with a (now) vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, chickenpox and polio.

***Dr. Pat Crago contracted pol***io at age five. He’s been a champion of Grandparents For Vaccines. See more below

As a result of the story’s popularity, a follow up podcast led by Sam Stein and the article’s author Jonathan Cohn, featuring grandmother Therese Vogel, has now appeared on Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bulwark-takes/id1794450472?i=1000756308889 in addition to The Bulwark’s YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0XxyhYESxI

More than 70,000 people have viewed the broadcast and nearly 800 have shared comments, including these:

“I had measles in 1962 and nearly lost my vision. I lay in a dark room for weeks and I remember the doctor coming in every day until I was out of danger. Please prevent needless suffering among our precious children.”

“I caught the measles in 1st grade, in 1961. My sister and brother caught it from me. I still remember my sister having blood running out of her ear because of it. She became hearing impaired and now has two hearing aids. Measles is a very serious disease, not just an inconvenience. I don’t understand how people could choose to let their children take the risk.”

“I’ll be 77 years old this summer. I had measles when I was five and almost died. My younger sister had whooping cough and she almost died. I knew kids who got polio and suffered life-long disabilities because of it. Polio vaccines were not available until the mid 1950s. I was scared to get the shot but my parents were thrilled. I also had a good friend in 1970s that contracted measles while pregnant and that ended poorly. I could go on and on. But I want to say that “vaccines cause adults!

And just last week, the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation announced that it is making a $250,000 grant to Grandparents For Vaccines.

Here is the news release with some details:

FINAL Grandparents for Vaccines Mt Sinai Foundation press release March 17 2026.doc Download

“Promoting vaccines is at the nexus of The Mt. Sinai Health Foundation commitment to primary prevention and sound health policy,” said Foundation President Mitchell Balk. “We’re impressed with Grandparents for Vaccines and their focused, storytelling-based approach, and proud to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them in this important work.”

GFV is also adding an executive director with decades of experience to its efforts. Kimberly Boller, Ph.D., is a nonprofit leader, policy researcher, and strategist committed to improving the health and well-being of families, children, and communities. She is the granddaughter of immigrants to the United States and the mother of a young adult daughter.

Kim has served as Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director of The Nicholson Foundation in New Jersey, leading systems change in maternal and child health in collaboration with government, philanthropy, and communities. Kim teaches public health evaluation in the Rutgers School of Public Health’s DrPH program.

SHARING STORIES

One page from GFV’s “playbook” is to successfully share stories to remind today’s generation of how horrible lives could be for children who are not vaccinated.

“Vaccines are excellent at protecting against diseases, but (sadly) they also wipe out memory,” explains Arthur Lavin, MD, a retired Shaker Heights (Ohio) pediatrician and founder of GFV. “We’re striving to use stories to help us get back to celebrating vaccines for their efficacy and safety.”

A person who’s joined GFV knows firsthand how devasting polio, once called infantile paralysis, can be. Pat Crago is in his early 80s today, but he almost didn’t survive after contracting polio as a five-year-old child in Western Pennsylvania.

Dr. Patrick Crago taught thousands of students in 40 years on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, where he was also a world-renowned researcher on motor control and neural engineering. He did this despite the crippling and debilitating effect of childhood polio, which made him rely on a wheelchair and crutched for mobility.

The Salk polio vaccine was developed too late for Dr. Cargo. As a child, his treatment for polio included a three-month hospital stay which included weeks in isolation. He next spent nearly a year in a rehabilitation facility, where he learned to use body braces and crutches to walk again.

“I remember going and getting vaccinations and huge lines of people at the local schools,” he told Spectrum News in a December broadcast. “Kids lined up to get polio vaccines, and I did, too, because there’s more than one strain of polio.”

Today Crago, professor emeritus at Case, is repeating his story as a volunteer with Grandparents For Vaccines. “It’s very disturbing to see that they come down with a horrible disease that’s entirely preventable,” he says.

According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), polio outbreaks in the U.S. caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year. After vaccines were introduced, the number of cases fell to less than 100 per year in the 1960s and less than 10 per year in the 1970s. A small percentage of people infected with poliovirus infection will also develop meningitis, an infection attacking the spinal cord and brain.

All this is preventable through vaccines. And, according to NFID and other sources, there is no cure for paralytic polio and no specific treatment.

Dr. Lavin believes that stories such as Pat Crago’s will have an impact. “When we share a story, we can come to an agreement about aspects of it,” he says. “Stories carry our emotions, and there’s a power that underlies it. We can become persuaded.”

Grandparents For Vaccines is telling the story through three narratives:

Survivors of preventable childhood diseases, such as the case with polio and Dr. Pat Crago.
Caregivers – sisters, brothers, others who had to provide care for siblings and others who contacted polio.
The “FRAN” impact – people who remember friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors (FRANs) who had polio or other devastating childhood diseases, ones which are now preventable via vaccinations.

GFV is encouraging those in these three groups to talk about their experiences with others.

SOUNDING THE ALARM TOO

Grandparents For Vaccines is also looking for opportunities to have its leaders speak to the media, and to engage with other groups to help tell the story about the dire need for vaccines to protect the young.

“We would like to go every city and state, meet with people, share stories like Pat Crago’s with parents,” Dr. Lavin says.

For example, GFV will present in a panel at the National Associaton of Evangelicals Faith and Health Conference in Cleveland on April 18. It will also have a panel at the National Council of Negro Women meeting in May.

“From local PTAs to national groups, we have leaders in nearly every state and we’re all striving to spread the message about vaccinations,” Dr. Lavin adds.

Finally, Grandparents For Vaccines will collaborate with like-minded medical associations such as the American Academic of Pediatrics, made up of 67,000 pediatricians committed to the optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

FOLLOW GRANDPARENTS FOR VACCINES HERE