Children Need Their Vaccines Now
During these difficult times all of us are concerned with exposure to COVID-19/Coronavirus. We are learning new things about this virus every day. We all want to protect our health as well as the health of our children, family and friends. The CDC has guidelines for families on staying at home, when to leave the house as well as many other issues dealing with this pandemic.
Even though staying at home is probably the safest thing one can do to prevent COVID-19 infection, your infants and children are still at risk of other extremely dangerous infections. These include measles, whooping cough, meningitis and more. Meningitis is an infection that affects the brain and can cause death in infants, sometimes within hours of becoming ill.
All of us at Briarcliff Pediatrics are doing everything we can to keep your families and our staff safe and limit the exposure of any illness that may be in the community. We allow only one parent with one child in the exam rooms. We do not have more than one patient in the waiting room at a time, while the next patients are in their car calling in to see when they should walk in for their scheduled appointment. We have masks and gloves for all our staff and have installed plexiglass barriers in the front office for checking in and checking out. We use separate exam rooms for well children who need vaccines, and different exam rooms for those who may need to come in for a sick visit. At this time, we are trying to do about 90% of our sick visits via tele-health with audio and video. We wash our hands constantly all day and spray the rooms with Lysol before and after every patient. We also have germicide wipes we use to clean all surfaces.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and Briarcliff Pediatrics recommend you bring your infants and children to their pediatrician for their regular scheduled wellness visits which require vaccines, so they may continue to receive their needed vaccines to keep them safe and healthy. We do not want another huge measles outbreak nor children dying from meningitis when these illnesses could have been prevented with children getting their recommended vaccines.
Stay safe and healthy. Wash your hands and continue social distancing. If you have any other questions or need a tele-health sick visit, or need a wellness visit that requires vaccines, please call our office at 770-939-7676.
