At 07:38 PM 02/24/2000 -0600, Dogwood Ridge wrote:
Todays lot of questions:
2.- A parent asks for a refund on the price of two Rotashield vaccines I
gave his baby because the series was not completed and therefore the verbal
contract of a three vaccine series is null and void. Comments?
Did the child get culture positive Rotavirus this winter? Bet not! Two
doses will still provide the child with significant protection compared to
a child who did not receive any doses at all. Wyeth can probably provide
you with statistical percentages after two doses compared to three and you
can show that to the parent. If they're really persistent and it's a
family you want to keep happy, you can offer a partial refund (the amount
you charge for administration) so at least you still would be reimbursed
the amount you spent to buy the vaccine. But, as C. M. Beville, M.D.
wrote, some or all of the cost might have been paid by an insurance company
or the government, in which case a refund would be even more inappropriate.
3.- I gave a Pneumovax to a child with Down syndrome and recurrent otitis
media last year when the child was two. Would you give this child a dose of
the new vaccine when it becomes available with the thought that it would be
more immunogenic?
We need to think of it as a different vaccine. I'd give it.
Michael Sachs, M.D.
General Pediatrician