Phoenix pediatrician not accepting unvaccinated patients

PHOENIX — No vaccines, no service. That’s the message a Phoenix pediatrician is sending parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids.

“We no longer will accept new patients who have not been fully vaccinated or are refusing vaccines,” Dr. Brad Golner of Phoenix Pediatrics told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “For our current patients, for those who have not been fully vaccinated, we ask them that they do need to get updated with their vaccines or we can no longer see them.”

Phoenix Pediatrics implemented the policy on July 1. Golner said the new policy is meant to protect their patients, many of whom are kids with special needs who “are much more vulnerable” to vaccine-preventable diseases.

He said they also see a lot of patients under the age of one who are not old enough to receive some vaccines.

“Those kids are also vulnerable to patients bringing in those diseases into the office, so it’s really a protection for our patients,” Golner said.

In a document explaining the new policy, Phoenix Pediatrics cited concerns over the recent measles outbreak. It noted the measles was eradicated in the United States nearly two decades ago but resurged this year.

Golner said the recent measles outbreak played a role in the decision to implement the new policy. He also refuted the idea that the measles vaccine causes autism.

A study published in May in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal said the Phoenix area has the country’s sixth-highest current risk for an outbreak of the measles.

Golner said many parents who are hesitant to get their kids vaccinated worry about potential side effects.

“I tell them straight forward, ‘If you are concerned about the side effects of the vaccines, then you have to be prepared to deal with the side effects of the disease,’” he said. “By not vaccinating, you are putting your child in a very vulnerable state.”

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