Vaccine Policy

Vaccine Information Statements

Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) are information sheets produced by the Centers for Disease Control Prevention(CDC).  VISs explain the benefits and risks of each vaccine.  Use the following link to find each VIS sheet: www.immunize.org/vis/

Policy

Bear Creek Pediatrics is a practice that believes in the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.  We are not only advanced providers, nurses and staff but we are parents, grandparents and aunts.  The vaccines we advise for your children are the same that we have given to our family members.  We cannot demonstrate our beliefs in any greater fashion than to provide them to our children and grandchildren. All NEW children within our practice are asked to follow immunization guidelines.

Statement

We, the practitioners of Bear Creek Pediatrics, believe immunizations are a very important component of preventative medicine. Vaccines are safe and effective in preventing diseases and health complications in children and young adults. We understand that there are a number of concerns regarding vaccines and autism, however, at this time there is no scientific evidence that supports an association between vaccines, thimerosal, autism or any other type of developmental delay. We, as practitioners as well as parents, can demonstrate no greater support of our beliefs than the timely vaccination of our own children.

The vaccine program is responsible for the near eradication of diseases such as polio. It is solely responsible for eradicating congenital infections and syndromes such as rubella in the United States. Over the past 50 – 60 years, we have seen life expectancy increase due to many scientific advances; vaccines are one of these advances. The success of vaccines is the primary reason that many parents may feel it is unnecessary to vaccinate their children. Many of today’s parents have never contracted or known anyone who has suffered from the effects of diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, bacterial meningitis, whooping cough, or polio. But this is no reason to believe that these diseases cannot be contracted if vaccines are discontinued. In areas where vaccines are underutilized, there have been outbreaks of measles and thus several preventable deaths due to complications of measles.  We have recently seen outbreaks of mumps and whooping cough in Spokane and around the United States.

We are making you aware of these facts to inform you and to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We will do everything we can to provide you with information to allow a better understanding of why vaccinating according to the schedule is appropriate.  We are sensitive to your concerns and will listen with an open mind. In some cases, we may alter the schedule to accommodate parental concerns or reservations. Please be advised, however, that delaying or “breaking up the vaccines” goes against expert medical recommendations, and can put your child at risk for serious illness because they would be unprotected during a critical period in their lives.

Additional visits for vaccines may require additional co-pays on your part as is determined by your insurance company. As medical professionals, we feel very strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is the best thing we can do to protect 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 of our providers. Simply put, vaccines save lives!