Parents say they’re not anti-vaccine but delay their kids’ shots

Vaccine refusal doesn’t always sound like vaccine refusal in my pediatric office anymore. More and more parents are delaying vaccines and citing logistics, outsourcing the decision to the parent who isn’t in the room or simply wanting more time. I hear countless variations, but the result is often the same: Children leave my office unvaccinated. “Oh, we’re definitely not anti-vaccine. We’re just waiting for Dad.” Dad comes to the next visit. “I think Mom should be here when we do them.” “We are definitely going to vaccinate but we have a birthday party coming up, doctor; wouldn’t want her to be under the weather!” Another parent agrees to the vaccines, then slips out of the office before the nurse returns with them because the child is “beside himself.” Minutes earlier the kid was happily playing in the exam room.