An open letter to all our valued families:

The providers of The Children’s Clinic care deeply about the health and safety of the children in our care.  One of the most vital steps in keeping them healthy is to be current with their childhood vaccines.  Our clinic follows the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by encouraging our patients to be immunized according to their published schedule.

Unvaccinated children are at higher risk for becoming ill with a host of preventable diseases that can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences.  In addition, unvaccinated children can potentially spread a preventable disease to another child who may be too young to be vaccinated or whose medical condition prevents them from receiving immunizations.  The vaccines our children receive have each been thoroughly tested for safety and effectiveness and we have given them to our own children.

With those important issues in mind, and for the safety of all the children in our care, we are providing our families with The Children’s Clinic’s policy statement regarding vaccine status:

Effective immediately, The Children’s Clinic will no longer accept new patients who are unvaccinated or on an alternative vaccine schedule.  Parents of unvaccinated children already in our care, will be provided a 30 days’ notice in which to enroll with a different primary care physician.  Parents who would like to start immunizations, are encouraged to discuss catch-up immunizations for their child.  In addition, we discourage adoption of alternative vaccine schedules for our patients.  Parents who choose to use an alternative schedule, are asked to have vaccines completed within the recommended time ranges specified by the American Academy of Pediatrics and CDC.

We would encourage you to speak with your provider about this important matter.  We will try to address any questions and concerns you may have.  We will also be happy to provide you with the current AAP/CDC recommended vaccine schedule.  We at The Children’s Clinic look forward to providing your children with the best possible medical care and guidance, and we value your trust and confidence.