Putnam Valley Pediatrics -- Calendar and Announcements
Memorial Day, July 4 (Independence Day), Labor Day, Thanksgiving and December 24/25 (Christmas Eve and Day) and December 31/January 1, 2009 (New Years Eve and Day): We and our staff will be taking these national holidays off to be with our families. The on-call doctors will open the office for limited illness hours only -- we ask that you please call early in the day if your child needs to be seen.
Weekday Snow Emergencies: on days of heavy snowfall work-week, we usually try to open on schedule, but there may be travel delays. We suggest rather than trying to come in for Early-Bird hours that you first try to call the office for instructions after 8:30AM.
Summer Appointments: The period May 15 to September 1 is an extremely busy time for our practice. With summer camps and programs, summer vacationers (the population of our area virtually doubles for the summer months), and vacation travel, appointments for checkups "on the right date, at the right time" is difficult to always accommodate. We ask that parents schedule their children's checkups during their birth-months, if possible rather than waiting for the summer or pre-summer period..
New Vaccines: several new vaccine recommendations for children have become effective recently which can impact on all families:
Gardasil -- HPV, Human Pappilloma Virus, "Cervical Cancer" -- this three-dose vaccine is now recommended for the age group 12-26 years of age, with the target age of 12 years for routine immunization. PVP strongly supports the use of this vaccine. In testing, it has been extremely effective and safe over five years, but must be given before any exposure to HPV to be effective. We have started, with parent permission, to administer the vaccine to all girls at age 12, and to all older girls and young women up to the age of 26 years. We urge all parents, and patients, to consider being vaccinated.
Rotateq -- protection for the infant-diarrhea virus, the leading cause of hospitalization in children under age 2 years caused by the dehydration triggered by the diarrhea. It is an ORAL vaccine, given in three doses, but must be used before six months of age for protection. It is also now part of PVP's routine immunization schedule for all newborns entering the practice.
Hepatitis A -- although this vaccine is not new, the recommendation to routinely vaccinate children in the United States is new. This is a result of the increasing incidence of this type of hepatitis (liver infection) Type A. Prior to this year the vaccine was commonly used for overseas travel, but now is recommended within the USA. It is a two-dose series given 6-9 months apart, starting at one-year of age.
Varivax -- chickenpox vaccine. Although it has been a single-dose New York State-required vaccine for the past decade, a second booster dose has been added. We have incorporated this into PVP's immunization schedule at age 4 years, along with the second MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), and are routinely giving the "catchup" second dose to all children over the age of 4 starting 1/1/07 at their next checkup. This includes ALL children, adolescents, and young adults who have gotten their first dose earlier in life. Persons who actually had the clinical illness of chickenpox do not require any doses.
Adacel -- research has shown a resurgence of pertussis ("whooping cough") among adolescents, adults, and the elderly, indicating that the vaccine (DPT) used from birth to age 5 years wanes over time. Half a century ago, pertussis was removed from tetanus (T) and diptheria-tetanus (Td) boosters used after age 7 years. With the advent of the new "Acellular" pertussis vaccine a decade ago, which has a much-lower side-effect rate, the decision was made to re-add pertussis to the adolescent and adult booster vaccines (aTd). We have been using this new-and-improved vaccine for nearly three years and have found it very safe and effective. The apparent incidence of pertussis in our adolescents seems to have subsided. We are recommending this to all our families, and are making additional recommendations to both young adults, parents, and grandparents that they ask about or obtain this vaccine from their physicians at the time of their next preventive-care examination. Pertussis, while typically more of a major annoyance for healthy adolescents and young adults, can be a severe and life-threatening illness for infants and young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. .
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