Vaccine Policy

We firmly believe in the safety of vaccines.

Click HERE for an informational article from the CDC on why it is important to vaccinate your children.

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 had been in vaccines for decades, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities. Nevertheless, thimerosal has been removed from almost all vaccines.

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 because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness. 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 the 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 (later retracted) that the vaccine caused autism. As a result of under -immunization, there have been small outbreaks of measles and several deaths from complications of measles in Europe over the past several years.

Furthermore, by not vaccinating your child you rely on thousands of others who do vaccinate their children. These preventable diseases still circulate, especially among unimmunized or under immunized groups. Not vaccinating puts your child at unnecessary risk for life-threatening illness and disability, and even death.

We are making you aware of these facts not to scare 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. 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 physicians at Carmel Pediatrics. Such additional visits may require additional co-pays according to your insurance policy.

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,

Randall D. Stoesz, M.D.

Susan L. Davis, M.D.

Carolyn O. Robinson, M.D.

Anna G. Gilley, M.D.

Elizabeth J. Beach, M.D.