The Best Kids Vaccine Policy Statement
• We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to
prevent serious illness and to save lives.
• We firmly believe in the safety of our vaccines.
• We firmly believe that all children and young adults should
receive all of the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by
the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• We firmly believe, based on all available literature,
evidence and current studies, that vaccines do not cause autism or other
developmental disabilities. We firmly believe that thimerosal,
a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some
vaccines, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.
• We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults
may be the single most important health-promoting intervention we perform as
health care providers, and that you can perform as parents/caregivers. The
recommended vaccines and their schedule given are the results of years and
years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by
thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.
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, bacterial meningitis or even chickenpox,
or known a friend or family member whose child died of one of these diseases.
Such success can make us complacent or even lazy about vaccinating. But such an
attitude, if it becomes widespread, can only lead to tragic results.
Over the
past several years, many people in Europe have chosen not to vaccinate their
children with the MMR vaccine after publication of an unfounded suspicion
article (later retracted) that the vaccine caused autism. As a result of this
article, and of under-immunization, there have been small outbreaks of measles
and several deaths from complications of measles in Europe and the United
States over the past several years.
Furthermore,
by not vaccinating your child you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of
others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that
your child will contract one of these diseases. We
feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable.
We are
making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to
emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that the
choice may be a very emotional one for some parents. We will do everything we
can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right
thing to do. Please be advised, however, that delaying or “breaking up the
vaccines” to give one or two at a time over two or more visits goes against
expert recommendations, and can put your child at risk for serious illness (or
even death) and goes against our medical advice as providers at The Best Kids. Such additional visits will require additional co-pays on your part.
Furthermore, please realize that you will be required to sign
a “Refusal to Vaccinate”
acknowledgment.
Finally, if
you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all our efforts,
we will ask/suggest that you to find another health care provider who shares
your views. We do not keep a list of such providers nor would we recommend any
such physician. We recognize that
medical decision-making is an extremely personal and sensitive issue. We therefore encourage you to ask of us
any questions that you may have; prior to making a
final decision regarding this, or any medical issue. Please recognize that by
not vaccinating you are putting your child at unnecessary risk for
life-threatening illness and disability, and even death.
As medical professionals, we feel very strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. Thank you for your time in reading this policy, and please feel free to discuss any questions or concerns you may have about vaccines with any one of us.
Sincerely,
The Best Kids
Harold Livera, MD
Great immunization information:
Clear
Answers and Smart Advice About Your Baby’s Shots:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2068.pdf
http://www.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/home.html