VACCINE POLICY

The Professional Association for Pediatrics

Professional Association for Pediatrics Vaccine Policy Statement

As pediatric health care providers our highest priority is to protect the health and well-being of your children and our community. We believe that routine childhood immunizations are crucial in meeting this goal. Vaccines are one of the most helpful interventions in the history of modern medicine.

We firmly believe in the effectiveness and safety of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives. If we did not, we would not recommend them for our own children or yours.
We firmly believe that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 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 vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health promoting intervention we utilize as health care providers, and that you can use as parents. The recommended vaccines and their schedule given are the results of years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by thousands of the world's brightest scientists and physicians.
We recognize that there has been controversy surrounding vaccination. 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 question the need for vaccinating our children. But such an attitude may lead to tragic results.
We therefore emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that the choice may be a very emotional one for you. We will do everything we can to show you that vaccinating is the right thing to do. However, should you have doubts, please discuss these with your health care provider.
Finally, if you should choose not to vaccinate your child or not to vaccinate on schedule, we will ask you to find another health care provider who shares your views. Please recognize that by not vaccinating, you are putting your child at unnecessary risk for life-threatening illness, disability and even death.