Well Child Visits

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 in vaccination of children and young adults according to the national standards of care set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to protect the health of your child and our community.

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 trace amounts remain in some vaccines), do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.  We do not use vaccines that contain thimerosal for children under the age of three.

We also 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 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.

Adverse Reaction

The most common adverse reactions following vaccination are fever and fussiness, and there may be some redness or swelling at the injection site.  Many parents ask if they should give acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol,) or ibuprofen (e.g., Motrin, Advil) prior to the vaccine visit. In the past we encouraged using these medications to reduce any discomfort or potential fever from vaccines. However, newer studies have questioned whether giving acetaminophen might make the vaccines slightly less effective. Therefore our pediatricians only recommend administering if your child has fever or unusual fussiness after vaccine administration.

Any medication or vaccine has the potential to cause an allergic reaction, sometimes a severe one. Rates of severe allergic reactions with vaccines run in the 1 per million range, making them quite rare.