CCP Vaccine Policies

At CCP, we advise our patients to follow the CDC/AAP recommended vaccine schedule. We believe that vaccines save lives, that the risks of the disease are far greater than any known risk from the vaccine, and that there is no credible scientific data showing any serious harm or risk from vaccines.

We also understand the anxiety vaccines can cause, and we respect parents’ ultimate right and responsibility to make medical decisions for their children. Our role is to partner with parents in the care of their children. We provide a great deal of evidence-based and scientific information and education about vaccines, as we do with other things, as well as our recommendations and what we do with our own children. However, we do allow parents to choose not to give some or all of the recommended vaccines, or to follow a vaccine schedule of their own choosing, and remain patients in our practice.

Insurance companies, along with employers or the government, are the ones paying for and managing healthcare, and they dictate much of what happens with patients, especially at well visits. They require many, many things from providers, including quality care, monitoring, and proving that children who are behind on vaccines are not behind due to our failure to vaccinate them. We must require from our patients what their own insurance company requires of us.

Parents who choose not to vaccinate or who choose an alternative vaccine schedule must agree to the following guidelines:

Parents who do not vaccinate

  1. Parents who do not vaccinate must sign a Declining Vaccines form at each well visit when vaccines are due. The form simply states that parents have been informed about which vaccines are due, the diseases the vaccines are intended to prevent, and that the parent realizes that the child may be at a higher risk of getting those diseases, of transmitting the disease to others, and potential harm from the disease. This form is required by many insurance companies and is the only way to show the reason why the child was/is not vaccinated. Therefore, parents must sign this form to remain in the practice.
  2. Parents who do not vaccinate must follow the regular well child visit schedule. There is much more that goes on at well visits than giving vaccines, things that are more important to a child’s health than the vaccines. Children are not little adults; they are growing and developing, especially their brains, and undetected problems can have lifelong consequences.

Parents who choose an alternative vaccine schedule

  1. Parents must choose and keep up with their child’s vaccine schedule. The child’s vaccine history is always available on the portal, and the recommended schedule is on our website and the CDC website.
  2. We will NOT advise parents on which vaccines can be delayed, or which ones are more important than others. From our perspective, delaying any vaccine puts the child’s health at risk until the vaccine is given. We cannot make that choice for parents; they must make it themselves.
  3. We will NOT advise parents on which vaccines are not needed at all. With the exception of HPV, which is caused by sexual activity, children are at risk of all the diseases for which there is a recommended vaccine. We cannot make that choice for parents.
  4. Parents must let us know what vaccines they request at each visit and complete a form requesting those vaccines. We will check the request against the child’s vaccine history and the recommended schedule to be sure the requested vaccines can be given that day.
  5. Parents must sign the Declining Vaccines Form for the vaccines that are recommended that day but the parent is choosing not to give. See #1 under parents who do not vaccinate above.
  6. Parents who want to split up vaccines and come for a separate visit for vaccines will be charged for an office visit. It is not considered a well or preventive visit. Insurance companies usually take a co-pay for this visit. Many insurance companies do not cover this visit at all; parents will be responsible for paying for this visit if it is not covered. Parents must sign a waiver form for this visit to get vaccines as a separate visit.
  7. The vaccine schedule is very complicated, and each vaccine has age requirements, specific intervals between doses, and may be affected by when other vaccines were given. Every time a child has a separate visit for vaccines, it requires a careful review of your child’s past vaccines and the ones you are requesting that day. There is no way to bill an extra visit for vaccines only as a well visit; it can only be a regular office visit.
  8. We will be happy to discuss vaccines at scheduled visits, or at a visit specifically for that purpose. Lengthy discussions will incur a charge for a visit or for counseling, just as it does for other situations in both pediatric and adult healthcare. These are common and standard charges but may or may not be covered by insurance.