Experiences of the children of anti-vaccine activists in Canada, 1982-2004

This project explores the impact of anti-vaccine activism on activists’ children, c.1982-2004. Derek’s doctoral research on late twentieth-century Canadian anti-vaccine activism revealed a surprising fact: a number of anti-vaccine activists’ now-adult children had chosen to receive vaccinations in adulthood. By interviewing the adult children of anti-vaccine activists, Derek aims to understand how they adopted or resisted parental beliefs about vaccination, and how outside influences – peers, educators, and public health materials – impacted their choices over time. His project adds new perspectives to the history of vaccine hesitancy and the family, focusing on the voices of children raised in anti-vaccine environments, complicating parental claims to rights over their children’s vaccination choices.