Vaccination Schedule

.Our Vaccination Policy

We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines  to prevent serious illness and save lives.

We firmly believe in the safety of pediatric vaccines.

We firmly believe that all children and  young adults should receive the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

We firmly believe, based on all available medical and scientific literature, evidence, and current medical studies, that vaccines do not cause developmental disabilities or autism.

We firmly believe that thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades does not cause developmental disabilities or autism. However, none of the vaccines that we offer in this office contain thimerosal.

We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults is the single most important preventative intervention we perform as health care providers. The recommended vaccines and their schedule are the results of many years of scientific study and data-gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

These things being said, we recognize that there has always been and will likely always be controversy surrounding vaccinations. The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, meningitis or even chicken pox. Such success can make us complacent about vaccinating. This attitude, if widespread, can only lead to tragic results.

Over the past several years, some people have chosen not to vaccinate their children or rather to  vaccinate on alternative vaccine schedules. Unfortunately, some of these decisions were made based on one flawed study that was later formally retracted, in which it was suggested that the MMR vaccine caused autism. As a result, there have been outbreaks of all of these preventable illnesses, leading to deaths and disabilities from complications of these diseases which should never have occurred.

Counting on others being vaccinated to protect those that are unvaccinated is unacceptable. Vaccines work best when each person in a community commits to preventing spread of communicable diseases.

We have carefully thought through our office policy and are confident that in choosing our practice you agree with our medical reasoning and recommendations. We recognize the choice may be an emotional one for some parents. We absolutely believe that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do. However, should you have doubts, please discuss these concerns with your provider  in advance of your visit. We require that you commit to actively vaccinate your children and commit to complete the schedule per standard recommendations.  Please be advised that “spreading out the vaccines” to give one or two at a time goes against expert recommendations and can put your child at risk for serious illness and death and goes against our medical advice.

It is not our desire to manipulate you to vaccinate your child. You are your child’s advocate and you must do what you feel is best for your child and family.  We want to respect your convictions just as we want ours respected.  Nonetheless, if you refuse to vaccinate your child, we will ask you to find another practice that shares your philosophy on vaccines.

Click HERE for a link to our current vaccination policy.

We follow the CDC’s vaccination guidelines which can be found below.