No physician is more ‘wellness’ trained for your child or adolescent than a pediatrician. At Sherif pediatrics, we provide age appropriate wellness exams that follow the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

Regular well child visits with your doctor let you raise the concerns that matter most to you. It is during the well child exam that we have the time to form some of our best relationships with your family.  Wellness exams give the parent, child, and physician the opportunity to discuss all of your health care concerns.

 

Preventative health care along with anticipatory guidance is the most effective care we provide. We follow the American Academy of Pediatrics well child exam schedule as well as the recommended immunization schedule.

 

Some of the topics commonly discussed during wellness exams are listed below:

 

Physical growth

Developmental progress

Health history

Hearing and vision screen

Hemoglobin and lead testing.

Behavior

Sports, school, camp participation

Immunizations

 

Having regular well-child visits with your child’s doctor and raising the concerns that matter most to you are key in helping the doctor know you and your child, and in forming a reliable and trustworthy relationship.

 

When should my child have a wellness check-up?

 

These levels are in accordance with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Newborn: 3 to 5 days old, 2 weeks

Babies: 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months

Toddlers: 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 24 months

Children 3 years old+: once a year for an annual visit.

 

Immunizations

 

Here at Sherif Pediatrics we STRONGLY RECOMMEND vaccinating your child according to the immunization schedule adopted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Learn more.

 

WHY DO BABIES NEED SO MANY SHOTS?

 

In their first year, babies get vaccinated against 14 diseases. That is a lot, but it is a good thing! The reason we immunize so early is because babies are much more likely to have severe complications (and even die) from vaccine preventable diseases than older children. The sooner we vaccinate your baby, the sooner you can feel comfortable taking him or her out and about.

 

It is important to remember that while we often do not see diseases like rubella, measles and polio in our daily lives, those diseases are just a plane ride away. More common vaccine preventable diseases like whooping cough and influenza are just a grocery store visit away. It’s all about protecting your infant from whomever and whatever they may encounter as early as possible.

 

SHOULD I SPREAD OUT THE VACCINES THAT MY CHILD NEEDS?

 

We strongly recommend vaccinating your child according to the CDC schedule. Choosing to delay one or more vaccines will leave your child at risk for disease longer than necessary during a critical time such as when they begin interacting with many family members, when they are starting day care and when they go to kindergarten. Learn more http://immunizeforgood.com/fac…

 

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO LEARN MORE!

 

There is a LOT of information on the internet about childhood vaccines. To make it easy for you to know you are accessing REPUTABLE EVIDENCE-BASED online resources, here are some of the best websites on the topic. These are the websites that WE TRUST to provide reliable up-to-date information regarding the immunizations that your child needs.

 

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
https://www.healthychildren.or…

 

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC)

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/p…

 

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
https://www.chop.edu/centers-p…

 

Every Child by Two (ECBT)
www.vaccinateyourbaby.com

 

The History of Vaccines
https://www.historyofvaccines….

 

Immunization Action Coalition (IAC)
http://www.vaccineinformation….

 

Vaccine Policy

 

We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives. We firmly believe in the safety of 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.

 

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 health care providers, and that parents can performs as caregivers. The recommended vaccines and the vaccine schedule are the result of years and years of scientific study and data collection from millions of children by thousands of our best and brightest scientists and physicians.

 

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, 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 lead to tragic results.

 

Administration of simultaneous immunizations has been extensively studied and determined to be safe and efficacious. There is no negative effect on the normal childhood immune system. The average child is exposed to millions of germs each day. The number of antigens found in immunization pale in comparison to the load the immune system faces daily. There is no medical benefit to splitting shots. We have found that splitting vaccines lead to medical errors and increased patient risk and potentially endangers the child.

 

We recognize that the choice to vaccinate your child may be a very emotional one for some patients. We will do everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do. Because of our strong belief in vaccines and the danger that unvaccinated children pose to themselves and their community, we have a common belief that all children should be immunized with the vaccines recommended by the AAP. We encourage all parents to visit the vaccine education center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s website(http://www.vaccine.chop.edu) or the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov) to better educate themselves on vaccines.

 

For those parents and caregivers that have a different belief in vaccines and that choose not to vaccinate their children we feel that is the best for those families to find another primary care doctor that will meet their specific needs and wants. If you have decided not to vaccinate your children, you will need to sign a waiver stating that you have a refused the vaccines and will have 30 days to find a new primary care provider. Within the 30-day transition period to a new physician, we will continue to serve your child’s needs; however, after the 30 days have passed, we will no longer be required to see your children.

 

Need to include the visit and immunization schedule found under Well Child Visit tab.

 

AAP Guidelines as Adopted by Sherif Pediatrics