As supply for COVID19 vaccination in the US begins to outstrip demand, the impact of antivax sentiment is becoming evident. The associations with politics, socioeconomic status and education, however, miss the biggest – and PROVEN – cause of antivax sentiment. Needle hesitancy. In “The Big Chill”, Jeff Goldblum notes “when was the last time you tried to get through the day without two to three juicy rationalizations?” People old enough to have seen this movie most likely aren’t anti-vax. We Gen-X folk were born before kids were routinely given boosters at an age when it could be traumatizing. We dismiss needle fear because we don’t remember vaccines, only the rare Bicillin shot for strep, and assume we’re morally superior because we’re tough. But because society values toughness, if you ARE afraid of needles, you’re 3x more likely to decide that perhaps your fear is really because the vaccine is dangerous. A rationalization is much easier than being stigmatized. Anna Taddio was the first to publish that of the 23% of adults who feared needles, 7% said they wouldn’t vaccinate their children because of it. Around the same time, our team researching the Buzzy device for needle pain discovered that the reason for