UPDATE 06/24/2022
At long last, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized for emergency use (EUA) two COVID-19 vaccines for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The FDA gave the green light on June 17 to both the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (for children 6 months to 4 years old) and the Moderna vaccine (for children 6 months to 5 years old). We are currently stocking both vaccines and will begin giving the shots on Wednesday June 29 by appointment only.
Since October 29, 2021 when the FDA also granted EUA for the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11 years old, we have been stocking this vaccine as well. We are currently scheduling on Thursday’s of every week. Parents/grandparents of children in our practice also may make an appointment to receive the adult dose of Pfizer vaccine in our office if desired.
We strongly recommend vaccinating children 6 months and up as it is the best way to overcome this pandemic. Click here to see AAP news about the vaccine. The website www.HealthyChildren.org has an excellent resource with many answers to your questions about the COVID vaccine. Please click here to find out about common side effects of the vaccine, risk of myocarditis, why vaccines are given based on age instead of weight/size, plus answers to many more questions.
We also now offer COVID-19 PCR and rapid antigen testing in our office. PCR results are generally available within a few hours while the rapid test results are completed within 15 minutes. Please call our office for more information and to schedule an appointment.
All Foster City Pediatrics physicians are offering in-person Well Child Check-ups for children of all ages and we encourage you to schedule one if your baby under 2 years old has not had one in the past 6 months or your older child has not had one in the last 12 months. We also still provide Telemedicine well child visits, Telemedicine sick visits, and phone consultations for a variety of symptoms and illnesses, including review of rashes and injuries. Your insurance will be billed for all telemedicine and phone consultation encounters.
We still ask for all sick visits and all well child visits 9 months old and over in the office, please limit the number of people coming in with your child to just one parent and the child. Please also fill out the COVID 19 screening questionnaires within 24 hours of the appointment for all persons who will be accompanying the child.
We are committed to continuing to provide sick visits for patients who need our attention but we urge you to keep your child home if just mildly ill. We are available by phone, telemedicine, and email through the Patient Portal for medical advice.
Our practice has put into effect many strict policies to ensure the health and safety of our patients and staff and combat the spread of COVID-19 in our community:
- Temperatures are taken of all patients/parents upon entry to the office.
- All employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
- Sick employees are being asked to stay home.
- All exam rooms have medical grade air purifiers.
- We thoroughly disinfect all door handles, exam room surfaces, sink handles and medical equipment prior to each patient.
- We have increased the number of hand sanitizers throughout the office.
- We require all employees and patients over 2 years old to wear masks without ventilation holes during the entire visit.
- We have instated a comprehensive social distancing policy, i.e., our waiting room will remain empty.
- We have removed all magazines, books, and toys in the waiting room and exam rooms.
- Please note: If you know your child or you has been exposed to a confirmed case of coronavirus or you have traveled to one of the high risk countries, please do not walk into our office. Instead, please call us at 650-574-2774 so we can give you appropriate advice.
INFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19 INFECTION:
We encourage you to visit these sites to obtain up-to-date information regarding the outbreak
https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/01/28/coronavirus
https://healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
