Vaccine Policy

    Katz Pediatrics firmly believes in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious and life-threatening diseases in our patients and to avoid the spread of such illnesses in our community. As Pediatric Providers, we firmly believe that vaccines are safe. We firmly believe that public policies excluding unvaccinated children from school are approprate in the school setting and must be a part of our office policy as well. We care for some complicated children at Katz Pediatrics; children for whom a vaccine preventable illness could result in death. 

   At Katz Pediatrics, we expect parents to immunize according to the schedule recommended by the American Academy Of Pediatrics and listed on our website for your review. Click here to view our immunization schedule.  View Vaccine Schedule Here. Effective May 1, 2019 we will no longer welcome new patients who refuse all vaccines. If parents have the intent to be fully immunized via an alternate schedule, they are warmly welcomed as long as the following criteria are met:

1. Immunizations are initiated by 4 months of age
2. By 18 months of age, the child has received all vaccines that are required for day care entry by the state of Florida for children age 2 months to 15 months. 
3. By 5 years of age, the child has received all vaccines required by Elementary School entry by the state of Florida. 

  Failure to meet our basic vaccination goals as listed above could result in dismissal from our practice and we will ask you to find another office that shares your views. We do not keep a list of such Providers nor would we recommend any such Provider. 

  We recognize that vaccinating your child may be a very emotional subject for some parents. The goal of this poicy is to have the healthiest patients and community and not to cause parental distress. There are many websites that contain misinformation about vaccines. We have done the research and reviewed all the controversies and hold firmly that vaccinating children may be the single most important health-promoting intervention that we perform as Pediatric Providers. We encourage you to discuss your concerns with us. Thank you for trusting us with the care of your child.