Phoenix Pediatrics has made their new policy loud and clear to patients. Unvaccinated children will no longer be accepted for medical care at their location.

“We no longer will accept new patients who have not been fully vaccinated or are refusing vaccines,” Dr. Brad Golner of Phoenix Pediatrics. “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.”

This new policy was implemented starting on July 1 with the goal of protecting their patients who are vulnerable to diseases that can be prevented through vaccinations. They also see a lot of patients who are under one year of age and therefore too young for some vaccinations.

“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.

Phoenix Pediatrics released a document citing their reasons for this new policy. The main concern is over the current measles outbreaks. Dr. Golner strongly disagrees with the idea that vaccinations will cause autism. Many parents who have this fear refuse to get their children vaccinated, which is the main cause of the recent measles epidemic.

A study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal claimed that Phoenix has America’s sixth-highest current risk for an outbreak of the measles.

Golner says some parents who won’t get their kids vaccinated worry that the side effects will put their children in danger.

“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.”

Click here to read Phoenix Pediatrics’ new immunization policy.