Pediatricians have varied responses to new AAP vaccine guidelines

Some doctors are on board with the new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) allowing for pediatrician dismissal from their practices of families who refuse vaccination—and some are not, according to Forbes.

The AAP’s new policy filled in a gap on comment about such practices, saying refusing to treat the children of parents who refuse to get them vaccinated is not always the best outcome for every physician, practice or patient, but that pediatricians may “consider dismissal…as an acceptable option.”

And many doctors are taking advantage of that option. One doctor in New Jersey told Forbes her practice does not accept voluntarily unvaccinated children because she is trying to protect the very young babies in her practice and her patients who are unvaccinated for medical reasons. Another doctor in Nebraska says he’ll help explain vaccinations and reassure parents for up to six months—but after that, it’s over if they still won’t agree to get their children vaccinated.

But others aren’t as sure about the new guidelines. Two pediatricians in Canada and Iowa told Forbes they don’t want to come off as coercing parents or violating a parent-physician trust by dropping patients who won’t get vaccinated. And having an established relationship with a physician could be even more important in the case of an unvaccinated child who winds up sick.

Check out Forbes to see how parents are viewing the new AAP guidelines and how they expect doctor’s offices to handle treating both vaccinated and unvaccinated children in practices where there may or may not be both kinds of patients present.