(updated 10/24/14)

The physicians of Framingham Pediatrics 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 the American Academy of Pediatrics. 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 our brightest scientists and physicians.

In addition, we recognize that there has always been and will likely be controversy surrounding vaccination. Occasionally, we are asked to withhold routine vaccines or give vaccines on an “alternative” schedule. There is no alternative immunization schedule recommended by the CDC or the American Academy of Pediatrics; therefore, we do not recommend any “alternative” schedule of immunization.

Our experience with patients and families tells us that if you are completely opposed to routine immunization or significantly disagree with our policy of routine immunization as described above, you and we may find it difficult to have a beneficial physician-patient/family relationship. In such circumstances, you may feel that your child and family might be better served by another provider. However, we would be happy to discuss your concerns about immunization, doing everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to schedule is the right thing to do.  An additional concern of ours is the risk posed to our other patients, to our staff and ourselves, and to the community in general by parents who chose to not vaccinate their children.

In some instances, we may agree to alter the immunization schedule with the following provisions in place:

  • You will provide us with a written plan for immunizations for your child that will become part of his or her medical record.
  • You will include in your plan a statement that you understand that your child is not being immunized according to the recommended immunization schedule and is therefore subject to consequences including contracting illnesses that vaccines should prevent and the need to be absent from child care or school during disease outbreaks and for prolonged periods.
  • You agree to specifically tell any and all physicians and nurses at Framingham Pediatrics that your child is not fully immunized whenever you call with questions about symptoms of illness so that we may modify our advice as appropriate for a non-immunized child.
  • You understand that variation from the recommended immunization schedule may require additional visits to the office for your child that will be billed as office visits that will require additional insurance co-pays or costs to your family.
  • You understand that you may re-address this issue and accept routine immunization for your child anytime in the future.

As medical professionals, we feel very strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. As with every recommendation we make about your child’s health, this policy seeks to promote the best health possible for your child.