As you may know, your child willbe receiving many immunizations over the next 5 years. This is to protect: 1-your child, 2-others who have not been immunized, and 3-pregnant women, whose fetus may be infected by an unimmunized child!
Recently, there have been many misconceptions and myths in the media regarding vaccines which may leave you confused or scared. If there is any concern, please discuss it with us. If you would like to read or download more information regarding vaccines (& immunizations, please visit the CDC website.
The State of New York requires that we give you literature to read about each of the shots and that you sign permits before we administer the shots. Please don't be alarmed at this paperwork. It is a formality to protect your child as a patient of ours.
In addition to the immunization schedule shown below, please note that children over 6 months of age are eligible for flu shots every October.

ANNUAL FLU SHOTS ARE RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER.

For more information about each immunization, move your mouse over the immunization.


Pediarix (DTaP, Polio + Hep B)
Prevnar
HiB
Rotavirus
2 months

Pediarix (DTaP, Polio + Hep B)
Prevnar
HiB
Rotavirus
4 months

Prevnar
6 months

Pediarix (DTaP, Polio + Hep B)
9 months

MMR
Prevnar
Blood test for lead + hemoglobin

12 months

HiB
Varivax (Varicella)

15 months

Infanrix (DTaP)
Hep A

18 months

Hep A
Blood test for lead + hemoglobin
24 months

Kinrix (DTaP + Polio)
MMR
Varivax (Varicella)

4-5 years

Boostrix (TDaP)
10 years

Menveo (Meningococcal A Series)
Gardasil (HPV)
11-21 years

Bexsero (Meningococcal B Series)
Menveo (Meningococcal A Series) Td (tetanus booster)
16-24 years


Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the United States. More than half of sexually active men and women are infected with HPV at some time in their lives.
About 20 million Americans are currently infected, and about 6 million more get infected each year. HPV is usually spread through sexual contact.
Most HPV infections don't cause any symptoms, and go away on their own. But HPV can cause cervical cancer in women. Cervical cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths among women around the world. In the United States, about 10,000 women get cervical cancer every year and about 4,000 are expected to die from it.
HPV is also associated with several less common cancers, such as vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and other types of cancer in both men and women. It can also cause genital warts and warts in the throat.
There is no cure for HPV infection, but some of the problems it causes can be treated.
HPV vaccine is important because it can prevent most cases of cervical cancer in females, if it is given before a person is exposed to the virus. Protection from HPV vaccine is expected to be long-lasting. But vaccination is not a substitute for cervical cancer screening. Women should still get regular Pap tests.
Meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial illness. It is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children 2 through 18 years old in the United States. Meningitis is an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Meningococcal disease also causes blood infections.
About 1,000 - 2,600 people get meningococcal disease each year in the U.S. Even when they are treated with antibiotics, 10-15% of these people die. Of those who survive, another 11-19% lose their arms or legs, become deaf, have problems with their nervous systems, become mentally retarded, or suffer seizures or strokes.
Anyone can get meningococcal disease. But it is most common in infants less than one year of age and people with certain medical conditions, such as lack of a spleen. College freshmen who live in dormitories, and teenagers 15-19 have an increased risk of getting meningococcal disease.
Meningococcal infections can be treated with drugs such as penicillin. Still, about 1 out of every ten people who get the disease dies from it, and many others are affected for life. This is why preventing the disease through use of meningococcal vaccine is important for people at highest risk.
Meningococcal vaccines cannot prevent all types of the disease. But they do protect many people who might become sick if they didn't get the vaccine.
Hepatitis A is a serious liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV)
HAV is found in the stool of persons with hepatitis A. It is usually spread by close personal contact and sometimes by eating food or drinking water containing HAV.
Hepatitis A can cause: mild flu-like illness, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes), and severe stomach pains and diarrhea.
People with hepatitis A often have to be hospitalized (up to about 1 person in 5). Sometimes, people die as a result of hepatitis A (about 3-5 deaths per 1,000 cases). A person who has hepatitis A can easily pass the disease to others within the same household. Hepatitis A vaccine can prevent hepatitis A.
Chickenpox (varicella) is a common childhood disease.
It is usually mild, but it can be serious, especially in young infants and adults.
It causes a rash, itching, fever, and tiredness.
It can lead to severe skin infection, scars, pneumonia, brain damage, or death. The chickenpox virus can be spread from person to person through the air, or by contact with fluid from chickenpox blisters.
A person who has had chickenpox can get a painful rash called shingles years later. Before the vaccine, about 11,000 people were hospitalized for chickenpox each year in the United States. Before the vaccine, about 100 people died each year as a result of chickenpox in the United States. Chickenpox vaccine can prevent chickenpox.
Most people who get chickenpox vaccine will not get chickenpox. But if someone who has been vaccinated does get chickenpox, it is usually very mild. They will have fewer blisters, are less likely to have a fever, and will recover faster.
Measles, mumps, and rubella are serious diseases.
Measles virus causes rash, cough, runny nose, eyeirritation, and fever. It can lead to ear infection, pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death.
Mumps virus causes fever, headache, and swollenglands. It can lead to deafness, meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord covering), painful swelling of the testicles or ovaries, and, rarely, death.
Rubella virus causes rash, mild fever, and arthritis mostly in women. If a woman gets rubella while she is pregnant, she could have a miscarriage or her baby could be born with serious birth defects. You or your child could catch these diseases by being around someone who has them. They spread from person to person through the air. Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine can prevent these diseases. Most children who get their MMR shots will not get these diseases. Many more children would get them if we stopped vaccinating.
Rotavirus is a virus that causes severe diarrhea, mostly in babies and young children. It is often accompanied by vomiting and fever. Rotavirus is not the only cause of severe diarrhea, but it is one of the most serious. Before rotavirus vaccine was used, rotavirus was responsible for: more than 400,000 doctor visits, more than 200,000 emergency room visits, 55,000 to 70,000 hospitalizations, and 20-60 deaths in the United States each year.
Almost all children in the U.S. are infected with rotavirus before their 5th birthday. Children are most likely to get rotavirus diarrhea between November and May, depending on the part of the country. Your baby can become infected by being around other children who have rotavirus diarrhea. Better hygiene and sanitation have not reduced rotavirus diarrhea very much in the United States. The best way to protect your baby is with rotavirus vaccine. Rotavirus vaccine is an oral vaccine, not a shot.
Rotavirus vaccine will not prevent diarrhea or vomiting caused by other germs, but it is very good at preventing diarrhea and vomiting caused by rotavirus. Most babies who get the vaccine will not get rotavirus diarrhea at all, and almost all of them will be protected from severe rotavirus diarrhea. Babies who get the vaccine are also much less likely to be hospitalized or to see a doctor because of rotavirus diarrhea.
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease is a serious disease caused by a bacteria. It usually strikes children under 5 years old. Your child can get Hib disease by being around other children or adults who may have the bacteria and not know it. The germs spread from person to person. If the germs stay in the child's nose and throat, the child probably will not get sick. But sometimes the germs spread into the lungs or the bloodstream, and then Hib can cause serious problems.
Before Hib vaccine, Hib disease was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis among children under 5 years old in the United States. Meningitis is an infection of the brain and spinal cord coverings, which can lead to lasting brain damage and deafness. Hib disease can also cause: pneumonia, severe swelling in the throat, making it hard to breathe, infections of the blood, joints, bones, and covering of the heart, and death.
Before Hib vaccine, about 20,000 children in the United States under 5 years old got severe Hib disease each year and nearly 1,000 people died. Hib vaccine can prevent Hib disease. Many more children would get Hib disease if we stopped vaccinating.
Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria can make children very sick. It causes blood infections, pneumonia, and meningitis, mostly in young children. Meningitis is an infection of the covering of the brain. Although pneumococal meningitis is relatively rare ?less than 1 case per 100,000 people each year, it is fatal in about 1 of 10 cases in children.
Pneumococcal meningitis can also lead to other health problems, including deafness and brain damage. Before routine use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, pneumococcal infections caused:
•over 700 cases of meningitis
• 13,000 blood infections
• about 5 million ear infections
• about 200 deaths
annually in the United States in children under five.
Children younger than 2 years of age are at higher risk for serious disease than older children. Pneumococcal bacteria are spread from person to person through close contact. Pneumococcal infections may be hard to treat because some strains of the bacteria have become resistant to the drugs that are used to treat them. This makes prevention of pneumococcal infections through vaccination even more important.
Hepatitis B is a serious disease that affects the liver. It can cause acute, short-term illness. This can lead to: loss of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting, tiredness, jaundice, pain in muscles, joints, and stomach. Acute illness is more common among adults. Children who become infected usually do not have acute illness.
Some people go on to develop chronic HBV infection. This can be very serious, and often leads to: liver damage, liver cancer, death. Chronic infection is more common among infants and children than among adults.
Hepatitis B virus is spread through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person. A person can become infected by: contact with a mother\'s blood and body fluids at the time of birth; contact with blood and body fluids through breaks in the skin such as bites, cuts, or sores; contact with objects that could have blood or body fluids on them such as toothbrushes or razors; having unprotected sex with an infected person; sharing needles when injecting drugs; being stuck with a used needle on the job.
People who are infected can spread HBV to others, even if they don't appear sick. Routine hepatitis B vaccination of U.S. children began in 1991. Since then, the reported incidence of acute hepatitis B among children and adolescents has dropped by more than 95% and by 75% in all age groups. Hepatitis B vaccine is made from a part of the hepatitis B virus. It cannot cause HBV infection.
Polio is a disease caused by a virus. It enters a child's or adult's body through the mouth. Sometimes it does not cause serious illness. But sometimes it causes paralysis. It can kill people who get it, usually by paralyzing the muscles that help them breathe.
Polio used to be very common in the United States. It paralyzed and killed thousands of people a year before we had a vaccine for it. Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) can prevent polio.
History: A 1916 polio epidemic in the United States killed 6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 more. In the early 1950's there were more than 20,000 cases of polio each year. Polio vaccination was begun in 1955. By 1960 the number of cases had dropped to about 3,000, and by 1979 there were only about 10. The success of polio vaccination in the U.S. and other countries sparked a world-wide effort to eliminate polio.
Today: No wild polio has been reported in the United States for over 20 years. But the disease is still common in some parts of the world. It would only take one case of polio from another country to bring the disease back if we were not protected by vaccine. If the effort to eliminate the disease from the world is successful, some day we won't need polio vaccine. Until then, we need to keep getting our children vaccinated.
Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis are serious diseases caused by bacteria. Diphtheria and pertussis are spread from person to person. Tetanus enters the body through cuts or wounds.

DIPHTHERIA causes a thick covering in the back of the throat. It can lead to breathing problems, paralysis, heart failure, and even death.
TETANUS Lockjaw causes painful tightening of the muscles, usually all over the body. It can lead to locking of the jaw so the victim cannot open his mouth or swallow. Tetanus leads to death in up to 2 out of 10 cases.
PERTUSSIS, Whooping Cough, causes coughing spells so bad that it is hard for infants to eat, drink, or breathe. These spells can last for weeks. It can lead to pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death. Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine DTaP can help prevent these diseases. Most children who are vaccinated with DTaP will be protected throughout childhood. Many more children would get these diseases if we stopped vaccinating.