Please pardon the following wall-of-text, but this issue is a tricky one.
So, several years back (around when the Blu e-cig was hitting the market), there were TV commercials telling people that they could pretty much vape wherever they wanted because it was not smoke.
Curious about this, I went to my leadership at the VA and asked what our policy was. I was told at the time that there was no official policy but to expect it to conform to smoking regulations eventually--and to conform to then current non-smoking policy.
At the time, my co-workers, mostly angry non-smokers, were REALLY against having vaping allowed in public spaces... I understood the rationale (if irrational), and even as a smoker I always supported non-smokers rights and endeavored to be a conscientious smoker. I still do this today as a vaper.
I have been able to educate some folks here and there but I have avoided proselytizing where possible, and believe that the crusading should be directed towards political advocacy and not defending my right to vape in public--especially getting into ego battles with non-smokers who have their minds already made up.
Anyway, the Healthcare profession has a lot of money and time invested in the many-decades long effort to get rid of cigarettes... And it took a really long time to even get to a point where the general public was functionally onboard. Same with the Federal Government really. It's taken place in steps covering decades.
When I first started working for the VA we actually still had a smoking section designated in the canteen/cafeteria. You could also smoke just about anywhere you wanted outside of the hospital. it took years for all the regulation to go into place that has lead us to where we are today--no smoking ANYWHERE on the VA campus.
Now this came about through Federal as well as State and Local regulations. Much more recently, folks have been scrambling to include vaping, I believe, because they fear that not doing so could undermine the work that has already been done. It's a shame really as these folks should actually be natural allies.
The problem is that the VA does not typically establish these kinds of policies so much as adapt to and enforce Federal, State, and Local regulation and or SOP. In this case VA is playing it safe. Individual doctors cannot officially establish policy, however there is nothing saying that a given Doc has to tout the party-line in terms of recommendations and or support of various smoking cessation strategies. This is why some medical professionals support vaping and some don't, but it has nothing to do with the policies themselves which are determined politically unfortunately.
Probably not saying anything folks don't already know here, just putting my opinion out there.
It's really unfortunate that the early advertising campaigns for cig-a-likes were taking the short-term view and marketing based on creative interpretation of smoking regulations and Smokers anxiety/frustration about them instead of taking the longer view. Quick cash marketing and politics just suck and really frustrate the piss out of me...*Sigh*... I feel strongly that the disrespectful way in which early E-Cig marketing campaigns worked, helped light the fuse early on for vaping to be seen as a threat to anti-tobacco legislation.
So, in short it is not so surprising that VA is being very cautious about their approach to the question of vaping, and thus equating it, officially, with smoking. There is no way that VA can "Take a stand" and support Vaping because it is subject to far too many other influences, professional, legal, and medical--in terms of standards that is.
Additionally it should be noted that VA has, over the years transformed its image from that of a backwards thinking bureaucratic waste of taxes, into a fairly well managed institution of innovative care and progressive approaches to research and technology... It's been really interesting to observe the changes over the years. Not perfect of course but so vastly improved that it is pretty impressive.
No one in VA (at the Policy-making level) is going to go out on a limb for something that is as controversial as vaping--just not going to happen.