Our Immunization Policy
At UCSF Health Medical Foundation (UHMF), we are committed to providing excellent, community-based pediatric care that promotes the health and well-being of all children and their families. We strongly believe that vaccinating your child is the most important health-promoting and life-saving intervention that we have to care for your child and our community. We follow the vaccination schedules recommended by:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the West Coast Health Alliance
- The California Department of Public Health and Shots for School
Our Policy
- We expect all patients in our practice to follow the required immunization schedule for day care and school entry in California.
- Families who choose not to vaccinate their children at all will not be accepted into our care or may be dismissed from the practice for non-compliance, as this prevents us from providing safe and optimal care for all patients.
- We understand some families may wish to follow an alternate schedule. While we do not recommend this approach, we are willing to work with families if the primary vaccine series is completed by age 2 and at least one vaccine is started by 9 months of age.
- For patients who start coming to our clinic after 2 years of age, we expect that they will receive all required vaccines within 1 year of entering our practice.
Resources
Has your child begun crawling or taken their first step?
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is a good source of information about your child’s development. Check out the CDC’s list of development milestones.