Are you vaxxed? Some families face fraught divide over jabs

NEW YORK (AP) — Thanksgiving is Jonatan Mitchell's favorite holiday, usually spent with his wife co-hosting up to 20 loved ones. He’d been looking forward to the gathering this year after calling it off in 2020 due to the pandemic, but one of the most pressing issues of the times got in the way: Who’s vaccinated and who’s not?

Mitchell, 35, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, has a rare neurological disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome and a smattering of related health issues that leave him at high risk should he contract COVID. Two relatives — his father-in-law and a brother-in-law — won't get vaccinated.

Rather than laying down an ultimatum doomed to fail, the Mitchells called off Thanksgiving, choosing instead to host a Friendsgiving the following day. Mitchell's vaccinated wife will catch up with her family on Thursday.

The situation, which Mitchell said is upsetting and frustrating, resonates with many families navigating the vaccination divide for the holidays. Thanksgiving is a bellwether for how the rest of the season will go among those facing family conflict over the shot.

“This is a line in the sand I'm willing to draw with others,” Mitchell said of the choice not to confront his unvaccinated relatives. “I've cut off a handful of friends and acquaintances that are staunchly anti-vaccine, but you can't do that with family.”

That sentiment, echoed by others, points to a transition in the pandemic from abject fear over public safety to a more long-term and intimate reshaping of social norms, said Karla Erickson, a professor of sociology at Grinnell College.

“Families often kind of mute conflicts and, because we paused in a way that’s really rare for families, the restarting of ritual gives us a moment to reconsider things,” she said. “There will be new hesitancy. A...