To vaccinate or not - pediatrician referral

K

kjg

Registered User
We have recently moved from Australia to Hong Kong with our 3 1/2 year old daughter and are soon to move to Stanley. I am looking for a recommendation to a good Pediatrician or General practitioner (preferably southside but will travel anywhere) that is open to parents chosing their child's immuniation schedule/types of vaccines, not immunising or delaying immunsations in children. Very debatable topic I know, but there is a long reactive history in my family to certain vaccines and I need someone who is open to this approach and comfortable with it.
Also, has anyone had any difficulties getting their children into Kindergartens without the full Hong Kong vaccine schedule that is recommended?
Also, I remember a thread a while back (can't seem to find it) that the Tuberculosis vaccine wasn't recommended in the school age children by some doctors here. Can anyone recall the reason for this?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
:flower:
 
i can't tell you anything about drs etc. but i know that my son's school REQUIRED a copy of his vaccination record.

now, i don't know what they would have done if i'd said that my son hadn't been vaccinated...

sorry...

ps> most HK kids get TB vaccine before they leave the hospital after birth... at least in public hospitals, if you refuse, they ask your reasons, but again, i'm not sure what they'd say/do if you simply refused.
 
If you need a GP with DCH, try Dr Thomas Chan in TakShing House in Central, he came back from Aus. Tel: 2973 0968
 
I'm not sure about his stand on vaccinations, but Dr Thondup is a great pediatrician - he's at The Repulse Bay Medical Practice Ph: 2812 2677. The practice is at Repulse Bay so not far from Stanley for you. Alot of my friends use him and I recently changed to him and have been very happy with him. He's very busy, but very good.

Welcome to HK!

Belinda
 
carang,joshsmum,karenchan

Carang
Thanks for the heads up, I think it's the same in Australia that all children are required to produce their vaccination records but if they are incomplete and there is an outbreak of any specific childhood illnesses that you haven't been vaccinated against, you are required to come and collect your child to reduce the risk of contraction.
Joshsmum
Thanks for the details, nice and close to Stanley for us, so I will make an appointment to discuss the TB vaccine.
KarenChan
Sorry, might be a bit slow here but what is DCH? Central is easy enough to get to. Do you have any personal experience with this doctor?
Thanks everyone, so appreciative of your time and info.
 
Kjg,

DCH is Diploma in Child Health. Dr Chan is my girl and my doctor, he is very good, caring and experience.

Karen
 
i can second recommending Dr Thondup at Repulse Bay Medical Clinic

I have declined certain vaccinations and delayed others and he is supportive of my decisions. so I would think would be a great match for you!
 
...also...my eldest son's school has his full immunisation record and they made no comment about the fact that he has not had a few of the vaccines. as mentioned earlier, if there is an outbreak of any kind they at least know who has/has not been vaccinated etc.

I recently declined giving the TB vaccine to my newborn while in the hospital. The hospital respected my decision and there was no further discussion. A few weeks after we got home I received a phone call from a government department asking why I hadn't given him TB vaccine and recommending that I do so. We discussed it for a while and I agreed to look into it further. Once again they did not enforce that he had it but left it up to me to decide.
 
aussie mum

Thanks so much for the information, Dr Thondup sounds like a good fit for me and close, so I will call him for sure. Nice to hear that someone else followed their own vaccine program also.
 
My limited experience is that doctors here (at least the local ones) aren't as vigorous about enforcing the "norms" of vaccination. In the States, for example, if you have convictions that mean you don't vaccinate your child along the standard guidelines you often face a firestorm from doctors and clinics. I just spoke with our son's doctor and explained that we will not be vaccinating him along the same guidelines--that we will wait until later to administer vaccinations that the HK guidelines say should be given now--and he didn't even bat an eye.

As far as schools go, I have been submitting applications for pre-schools for my son and have been told that you do need to provide an immunization record but if some immunizations have not been administered that it is common to just provide a letter explaining that they were not administered and what personal reasons why. This does not necessarily bar children from entrance to the school as it might in other countries (USA, in my experience).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top