Our Vaccine Philosophy

Parents and pediatric healthcare providers alike make decisions (by proxy) for those who cannot advocate entirely for themselves. Making good decisions by being informed and weighing potential or perceived risks and benefits is fundamental to this role. We believe that immunizing your child against vaccine preventable diseases is one of the most important heath decisions you will make as a parent. We know that this can be a taxing decision for some. We want to partner with you in this process by acting as a resource of current knowledge while providing guidance to help separate factual information from subjective feelings or fears that may naturally arise during this process.

The concept of vaccination has never been more scrutinized than over the last decade. Many factors have interfered with parent’s understanding of vaccines including: bad science (a recently retracted study falsely associated vaccination to autism and a myriad of other health conditions or consequences); poor communication from within the health care community regarding the known safety and necessity of vaccinations; and freely circulated mistruths and antidotal, unsubstantiated reports about the dangers of vaccines perpetuated through the internet and popular media.

Healthcare decisions, like most, are shaped by popular culture. As parents and pediatric providers, we are obligated to challenge the “going” sentiment of the time questioning its validity and longevity. The lesson that we have learned about the past decade is that good science did support the safety and necessity of vaccination. The remaining question is whether unfounded, “popular” beliefs, despite being debunked, will continue to compromise the perception of vaccination and ultimately the health of another generation.