Progressive declines in vaccine coverage have been registered in Brazil in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic brought even more challenges in this scenario. Considering the pandemic as a social event, we aimed to analyze the politicisation of vaccines from the caregivers of young children’s point of view. This qualitative research was conducted in two Brazilian capitals: Sao Luis (Maranhao) and Florianopolis (Santa Catarina). The study included families with children up to 6 years old, with (1) fully or (2) partially vaccinated child(ren), the latter comprising the group that selected some vaccines, as well as with (3) unvaccinated child(ren). Participants were recruited using snowball sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted between March 2021 and April 2022. We interviewed 48 caregivers, most of whom mothers.The study reveals that, regardless of the previous position concerning vaccines, the sanitary-political event of the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced beliefs, meanings and attitudes on childhood vaccination. Moreover, our results uncover the influence of vaccine politicisation on vaccine hesitancy, in the extent that (dis)trust in vaccines is sometimes connected to ideologies and opinions of political leaders. They also demonstrated that the pandemic resulted in delays in routine childhood immunisation, and made caregivers seek private immunisation services. Vaccine politicisation as a new phenomenon in the Brazilian context and should be anthropological better understood.