Vaccine Policy | Cornerstone Family P

Vaccine Policy Statement for Cornerstone Family Practice

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 and 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 thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some vaccines, does 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 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.

These things being said, we recognize that there has always
been and will likely always be controversy surrounding
vaccination.Indeed, Benjamin Franklin, persuaded by his brother, was opposed to smallpox vaccine until scientific data convinced him otherwise. Tragically, he had delayed inoculating his favorite son Franky, who contracted smallpox and died at the age of four, leaving Ben with a lifetime of guilt and remorse

Quoting Mr. Franklin’s autobiography:

“ In 1736, I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox. I have long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it, my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”

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 chicken pox, or known a friend or family member whose child died of one of these diseases. Such success can make us complacent or even lazy about vaccinating. But such an attitude, if it becomes widespread,can only lead to tragic results.After publication of an unfounded accusation (later retracted)that MMR vaccine caused autism in 1998, many people in Europe chose not to vaccinate their children. As a result of under immunization, there were large outbreaks of measles,with several deaths from complications of the disease. In 2010 there were more than 2,000 cases of whooping cough in California, with nine deaths in children less than six months of age. Again, many of those who contracted the illness had made a conscious decision not to vaccinate.

Furthermore, by not vaccinating your child you are taking

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FOR THE PUBLIC www.vaccineinformation.org

advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which currently decreases the likelihood that your child will contract one of these diseases. However as more and more parents continue to refuse vaccines for their children this with no longer apply. We are currently seeing this with the measles in Colorado, as they did in Europe, as we speak. Herd immunity will no longer protect unvaccinated children. 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 strongly believe that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do and will encourage this practice at every visit. However, should you have doubts,please discuss these with your healthcare provider in advance of your visit. In some cases, we may be willing to 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, and can put your child at risk for serious illness (or even death) and goes against our medical advice as providers at Cornerstone Family Practice. Such additional visits will also require additional co-pays on your part. Please realize that you will also be required to sign a “Refusal to Vaccinate” acknowledgement in the event of lengthy delays.

All patients in the practice are strongly encouraged to: receive hepatitis B vaccine at birth, 2 months and 6 months of age)

DTaP, Hib, polio, pneumococcal,and rotavirus vaccine series are started at 2 months of age

measles,mumps and rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and hepatitisA vaccines at started at age 12–15 months;

HPV, Tdap and meningococcal vaccines are given 11–12 years (HPV can also be given as early as 9 years);

and annual influenza and COVID-19 vaccine.

Also, if RSV vaccine was not given during pregnancy, your newborn should receive an RSV preventive antibody before or during the RSV season.

You can view a parent-friendly version of this schedule at www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4050.pdf.

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

Sincerely,

Lisa Gieseke, D.O.

owner of Cornerstone Family Practice