BY RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

The US non-profit, Grandparents for Vaccines, is now active in New Mexico. This volunteer-led advocacy organization seeks to increase childhood vaccination by mobilizing grandparents and other older adults to share their personal experiences with vaccine-preventable diseases and the benefits of vaccines. The organization was founded by Dr. Arthur Lavin, a retired pediatrician, and its leadership includes pediatricians, nurses, public health professionals, and nonprofit leaders.

Grandparents for Vaccines mission is: “To ensure America’s grandchildren have their best start in life without the threat of vaccine-preventable diseases.” 

The organization aims to:

 Increase the rates of routine childhood vaccination

 Help prevent outbreaks of diseases such as measles, pertussis, and polio.

 Preserve the historical memory of what childhood infectious diseases were like before vaccines were widely available.

 Encourage respectful conversations about vaccines within families and communities

The organization is built around the idea that grandparents are trusted family members whose life experiences can influence younger generations. Among other things, its activities include:

 Collecting and publishing personal stories from grandparents who remember children becoming seriously ill or dying from diseases that are now vaccine-preventable.

 Encouraging family conversations about why vaccines mattered so much in earlier generations and are still so important.

 Community outreach, including talks at schools, PTOs, libraries, and local organizations.

 Advocacy through social media and traditional media,

Most younger parents have never seen diseases like polio, diphtheria, or measles. However, many grandparents remember family members, friends, and classmates with paralysis, children hospitalized with meningitis, or families affected by whooping cough. Grandparents for Vaccines hopes to preserve those memories and use them to inform current decisions .

You can read more about Grandparents for Vaccines on Facebook and at: https://grandparentsforvaccines.org

If you would like to get involved in this advocacy effort or would like more information about Grandparents for Vaccines, please contact Richard Skolnik of White Rock, the New Mexico State Lead for this organization at reston.richard@gmail.com

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