Legacy Immunization policy

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 that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics. 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 vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health-promoting intervention we perform as healthcare providers, and that you can perform as parents/caregivers. The recommended vaccines and the vaccine schedule are the results of years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

This said, we recognize that there has always been and will likely always be controversy surrounding vaccination. The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, or even chickenpox. Such success can make us complacent about vaccinating. This attitude, if it becomes widespread, can only lead to tragic results. In 2012, there were more than 48,000 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) in the United States, resulting in 22 deaths. Most victims were infants younger than six months of age. Many children who contracted the illness had parents who made a conscious decision not to vaccinate.

When you don’t vaccinate, you take a significant risk with your child’s health and the health of others around them. The presence of such risks creates a difficult dilemma for primary care pediatricians. ALL children deserve safe, high-quality medical care. Pediatricians overall, are committed to the care of ALL children. However, that commitment to safe, high-quality care means that pediatricians have an obligation to make their offices and clinics as safe as they can possibly be. The presence of unvaccinated children in our offices poses a small, but real risk of transmitting vaccine-preventable diseases to our other patients, especially those who are immunocompromised, those who cannot be immunized, and those who, by no fault or choice of their own, face the prospect of significant morbidity or mortality should they acquire a vaccine-preventable disease.

We are making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that the choice may be a very emotional one for some parents. We will do everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do. However, should you have doubts, please discuss these with your healthcare provider in advance of your visit. 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”to give one or two at a time over two or more visits goes against expert recommendations. It can also put your child at risk for serious illness (or even death) and goes against our medical advice as providers at Legacy Pediatrics. Please realize that you will also be required to sign a “Refusal to Vaccinate” acknowledgement.

Because we are committed to protecting the health of your children through vaccination, we require all of our patients to be vaccinated. Infants will receive all age-appropriate recommended vaccines by three months of age, with additional recommended vaccines as well as booster doses by two years of age. Children will receive additional recommended booster doses by the time they are seven years old, and will be given recommended 11 – 12 - year preteen vaccinations by the time they are 13 years old. We will complete 16-year teen vaccinations before each child’s 17th birthday.

Finally, if you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all our efforts, we will ask you to find another healthcare provider who shares your views. A parents' unwillingness to follow the pediatricians' recommendation regarding immunization leads to a breakdown in trust and a fatal blow to an ongoing physician-parent relationship.

Please recognize that by not vaccinating, you are putting your child at unnecessary risk for life- threatening illness and disability, and even death. As medical professionals, we feel very strongly that vaccinating your child on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do to protect all children and young adults.

Thank you for taking the time to read this policy. Please feel free to discuss any questions or concerns you may have about vaccines with any one of us.

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