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Vaccines and Preventive Care

Vaccines

The physicians and physician assistants of Willows Pediatrics strongly believe children should receive vaccines acording to the schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Scientific evidence has established that childhood vaccines are safe and protect children from serious illness. Children who do not receive immunizations are susceptible to potentially life-threatening illnesses, and present a risk to any other children they come into contact with and the community at large. The potential consequences of vaccine preventable diseases include hospitalization, mechanical ventilation, seizures, brain damage, and even death.

Sorting through the benefits and misinformation

As pediatricians, we have seen the tremendous benefits of childhood vaccinations. At the same time, we have seen how misinformation about vaccines has led some parents to delay or with hold vaccines, putting children at risk for illness. We understand the difficulty parents may have in sorting through the vast quantities of data on vaccine safety, and we are here to help guide you and answer all your vaccine-related questions.

At each visit we will review your child’s health record and discuss with you any vaccines that are recommended. Your child’s vaccine record is kept in your child’s chart as well as in our computer database, which allows us to print out each child’s vaccine record for school and camp forms. We also participate in CIRTS (the Connecticut Immunization Registry and Tracking System). Below is our recommended well child and vaccination schedule.

Preventive Care

Checkups are opportunities to screen your child for vision and hearing problems, chart growth patterns, and administer any vaccinations that may be due. They are also an important time for us to get to know your child as an individual and answer questions parents have about development and behavior.

Please make appointments for your child’s annual checkup at least three months in advance; even sooner when check-ups fall during the summer months.

*All vaccines are thimerosal free

**Hemoglobin (Hgb) is a simple finger prick test to screen for anemia.

**The Quantiferon Gold blood test is a type of tuberculin test. Cholesterol and other blood work will be done as necessary.