There has been and continues to be misleading and inaccurate information posted on the internet regarding vaccines and their safety. So, it is no surprise that vaccine safety continues to be an important topic to parents. The popularity of social media also makes it easier than ever to find inflammatory and erroneous vaccine information. Therefore, we encourage people to focus on reliable sites that are based on peer reviewed research and are published by reputable organizations. This page contains important information we would like our patients to know and understand about the importance of vaccines from our perspective.
Simply put, in our minds,
vaccines save lives! They are a vital and necessary part of our fight against contagious illnesses that can cause significant harm to all people; but especially to infants and children. Therefore, our physicians at Howard County Pediatrics require all of our patients be appropriately vaccinated to be part of our medical home. Families may come to us with a desire to vaccinate but may prefer to use a schedule that is different from the schedule recommended by the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the
Advisory Commitee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In our experience, choosing a schedule that significantly varies from the guidelines provided by the AAP and ACIP: increases rates of illness in the community, results in a greater chance for vaccination errors, increases the health risks to the patients and personnel who enter our office, and causes more children to be harmed or die from vaccine preventable illnesses. With this in mind, It is our practice policy not to delay required vaccines more than
six months from the ages recommended by the AAP.
Please see the list of links below to reputable and accurate information on vaccines. You can click
here to see the general schedule of vaccinations that we follow. The order and timing of the recommended vaccines may be altered slightly, by our physicians, based on individual circumstances of a patient. We welcome any questions or clarifications regarding the vaccine information posted below.
World Health Organization (WHO) Vaccine Home Page
CDC Vaccine Home Page
Immunizations, What You Need to Know (AAP)
Immunization Action Coalition
Vaccine Education Center (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)