How to approach the vaccination conversation with other moms?

To start: I am NOT trying to start a debate about whether or not to vaccinate.

My partner and I are expecting our baby in a couple of months. We got together with some friends last night, including two of our friends and their two month old daughter for the first time.

In our conversations with them, they casually revealed that their daughter was not yet vaccinated and they are still “figuring out which ones they want to get”.

My partner and I were caught off guard and due to the environment/other people being around, we did not continue on this topic and changed the subject. But when I got home, I could not stop thinking about it and how this would be impacting their daughter meeting our baby in the future.

I will not want my baby to be around theirs until ours is fully vaccinated. However, we are a part of the same large friend group and know that this will likely present awkward situations if they want to meet our baby/have our babies meet before we are ready.

Both of these friends were in our wedding

party. We are very close (which is why we were so caught off guard by their comment, we are surprised this topic had not come up sooner when we were both pregnant together.)

I feel that out of respect for our friendship, I want to be honest with them about why we would want to wait to have our babies meet, and to avoid having to make awkward excuses. I just don’t know a way to bring it up without sounding judgmental and damaging our friendship. I’m sure it will change things and possibly turn into a bigger conversation, but if anyone has been in a similar situation I would love to know how you approached it!