(Vax)Teen Dream - Late Bloomer
When Kelly, a high school senior from Los Angeles, discovered that teens were turning to the internet to determine if they can self-consent to vaccinations, she decided to do something about it. Though VaxTeen was created pre-COVID, now more than ever, it’s become an invaluable resource for young people across states who are looking to advocate for themselves. We chat with Kelly about growing up in L.A., parking anxiety, and how she’s making a major impact––all while juggling senior year––below.
Late Bloomer: I imagine a lot of people think being a teen in L.A. means you’re at the beach every day in the same way I think a lot of people think being a teen in New York means your life is like Gossip Girl.
Kelly: I actually go to school in Santa Monica but I’m not a big beach-goer, oddly enough. There’s so much I take for granted growing up in a major city. It’s nice to be able to be involved in anything whether it’s an opportunity, a project I want to be a part of, or a cause I want to work on––there’s always something I can do. There’s also obviously downsides. A city like L.A. is a very diverse, multifaceted city and there’s a huge issue of inequality that you see here all the time, which is very hard. Homelessness is a huge issue here. It can be sort of crazy to grow up in that contrast and dichotomy.
LB: Do you have your driver’s license?
Kelly: I do. I was quite late to get it, which is funny because you really can’t get anywhere here without a car. I also still don’t drive on the freeway, which is another issue in L.A. because how can you not drive on the freeway? But now I’m officially driving every day, which is very exciting and freeing and fun.
LB: I used to get so much anxiety driving in L.A. when I lived there. Growing up, I never had to parallel park so even something like driving to a dentist appointment was stressful because I never knew what the parking situation was going to be.
Kelly: I actually plan where I drive around my ability to park in a parking lot instead of parallel parking! I think it’s so nerve-racking here.
LB: Let’s talk about VaxTeen, which is a big part of your life. Why did you start it?
Kelly: Growing up, I thought I wanted to be a teacher and then I was really interested in science and healthcare. I volunteered at a hospital in seventh or eighth grade and did a lot of different research trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I decided I wanted to work in global health; not just the idea of ensuring access to preventative care but looking at ways other than “Oh, here’s a doctor in this country” and instead, what are the unsaid barriers and out-of-the-box solutions to providing that?
Having this background thinking about preventative care, I happened to be on Reddit and saw a post from a teenager talking about how he had tried to reason with his parents about getting a vaccine and found that he really couldn’t to no avail and was worried both for his own health and others around him. I was just struck. My own parents are very pro-vaccine and that wasn’t something I had ever questioned when I went to the doctor’s office or whether I needed to advocate myself against my parents in order to get it. I was amazed and dug in. It was right after Ethan Lindenberger had testified in front of the Senate health committee. He was an 18-year-old who went viral after posting a very similar question on Reddit. I just kept digging and I found hundreds of other posts. All of these were written by resourceful teenagers who were having difficulties with these laws of whether they self-consent to a vaccination.
The other issue is, if you’re not on the schedule recommended by the CDC to get vaccines, what does the timeline look like? How many doses do you need? What vaccines? There are resources on the CDC but they’re these crazy color-coded charts that are very, very confusing. I decided that somehow I was going to help. I had this background but obviously didn’t have a law degree so I spent about a year––it went up until the pandemic––creating these state-by-state guides on minors’ self-consent laws, which are extrodinarily complicated. Some states have explicit laws mentioning vaccines and one’s ability to self-consent. A lot of other states follow a gray area with different questions and types of care. I spent about a year merging these guides and resources, catching up with the CDC information but in an easier to understand format.
And then it was the pandemic. I realized I was answering these questions but I also really want to go into preemptively educating. There was such an opportunity for peer-to-peer campaigns, so that was launched. VaxTeen really started from being a teenager and not having a voice, even if it’s to protect your own health, to then actually being accepted by the public health community, which has been amazing. Hopefully, for the rest of my life, I want to work on ensuring access to preventative care whether it’s vaccines or other forms but I really think the key idea is equity. The right to be healthy is a human right and I hope to help however I can.
LB: When the pandemic hit, was there an increase to your site’s traffic because young people were looking for information?
Kelly: Definitely. I think that was huge. Right now, one of VaxTeen’s big projects is that we’re working on an education curriculum. We kept hearing that teachers were getting a lot of backlash from trying to talk about vaccinations at school. The curriculum is run by teenagers and the idea is to make it more of an ethical discussion about self-consent policies and give people faith in science, but not have a bias so they can arrive at their own conclusions and hopefully advocate for themselves in the real world.
There were teens already confronting this issue [before the pandemic] and vaccines were on their minds. Then the entire world had vaccines on their minds. Everyone, particularly teenagers, have seen the importance of vaccines and the impact on their lives. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was told I really wasn’t at risk but I needed to stay home to protect the people around me. I was told that COVID wasn’t a huge issue for me but my community was what I needed to protect. Everyone I know who’s young stayed home and did the best they could to protect those around them and I think teenagers have realized we need vaccines for our own health and to protect those around them. This value of community-mindedness is obviously very inherent with vaccine herd immunity but I now think a lot of these teenagers are confronting this issue with their parents. Every day I do searches on Reddit and Twitter to find teens who need resources and every day I find more. The COVID vaccine has come with even more sources of hesitancy and questions for parents. More teenagers are contending with these issues or being forced to be advocates in their own families.
LB: Have you had a moment where you were able to step back and really feel the kind of impact you’ve made?
Kelly: At one point I decided to contact the people who’ve posted on Reddit and see if they were successful or if they had some type of input for VaxTeen. Or if they hadn’t been successful, even if it was two years ago, how could I help them? I ended up in lot of one-on-one conversations with teenagers and so many of them hadn’t been able to get vaccines so I was working with them. They were trying to figure out what vaccines they’ve had and I was trying to help them figure out who they should contact and where they could go to get them. Sometimes the problem is “I need to go somewhere that’s open on the weekends and is on this bus line.” It’s not just issues of consent, it’s also access. Getting engaged with that was huge for me and I gained so much perspective.
LB: For the young people out there whose parents might be vaccine hesitant, especially the COVID vaccine, how should they approach that conversation?
Kelly: The first thing is do have that conversation. What are the beliefs that they hold? What questions do they have? If the beliefs they hold are incorrect information that they think is true or if you know where they’re coming from the core beliefs they’re holding onto, you can engage on those issues. It’s very emotional and very difficult but I think the best way to have those conversations is to try and come in without judgment and not as argument, but a conversation.
A few of Kelly’s favorite things:
An Oral History of The Office: The Office is perhaps my all-time favorite TV show, so it's no surprise that I absolutely love this podcast and may have listened to all of the episodes in a single day. Hosted by Kevin Baumgartner, who plays the beloved Kevin Malone, I laughed and cried while listening to the cast and crew recount just what made the show so special.
Liist: As someone who loves to explore and discover off-the-beaten-track spots, I felt a sense of kismet when I discovered “Liist” (two i’s!). The app allows you to create “playlists of places,” which are then turned into customizable maps. I constantly have it open on my phone— adding new taco stands and coffee shops that I’m dying to try with my friends, finding out what’s nearby when I’m out and about, and planning adventures — so it’s quite fitting that I’m the app’s top user!
Catch Me If You Can: Clever, startling, funny, Catch Me If You Can captures Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks at their very best. It’s undoubtedly one of the best movies of all time (and Guillermo del Toro concurs!). Based on a true story, the movie is exciting, fast-paced, and captivating, yet surprisingly touching as it contends with protagonist Frank Abagnale’s vulnerabilities.
Pixie tangerines: The best form of citrus you could ever imagine.They grow all over Ojai, and when they’re at their peak during the end of spring and the beginning of summer, I can’t stop eating them. I’ve gone on many wild goose chases throughout L.A. in search of this perfect fruit.
“Sound and Color” by Alabama Shakes: There’s something about this song (and the album that shares its name) that speaks to me. I get lost in Brittany Howards’ funky, soulful vocals, and the experimental, brilliant instrumentals. Honestly, the whole album — especially the songs “Dunes,” “Don’t Wanna Fight,” and “Gimme All Your Love” — blows me away every single time I listen to it.
tysm, Kelly! 🌼