Harbor Pediatrics

12/31/2022

As 2022 comes to a close, we hope you and your family are staying healthy and well. Annual "Ball Drops" hardly seem to capture how fast children grow up. We thank you for letting the physicians and staff at Harbor Pediatrics be a part of your family's journey and look forward towards a 2023 filled with... more well checks / less sick visits. Have a Safe and Happy New Years!!!

12/24/2022

Happy Holidays!!! We here at Harbor Pediatrics hope this holiday season finds you healthy and enjoying time with your family. Unfortunately, illness is still fairly prevalent throughout our community. Dr Chen is on call all weekend. Please call the office (949-645-4670) if you have concerns about your child’s medical needs. The office will be closed Sat, Sun, and Mon. We will re-open Tues, Dec 27th. We wish you a safe and Hapoy Holidays!!!

02/19/2022

Good evening,

Yesterday, the CDC announced that Abbott was issuing a recall of some of its powdered formulas. We wanted to make sure that all of our parents are aware of this recall. This does not apply to all Similac products, so please refer to the CDC statement for the affected brands and specific lots.

The FDA is investigating consumer complaints of Cronobacter sakazakii infections and one consumer complaint of infection of Salmonella Newport potentially linke

01/09/2022

With COVID running through the community, many families have been asking what are latest rules for those are COVID positive and/or how those rules differ if you have been exposed to someone with COVID. Based on the CDC and CA Dept of Health guidelines for Fri 1/7/22, we have created these two tables to summarize the current guidelines. We hope you will find this helpful. If you are interested in having you / your child receive the COVID vaccine, please call our office. We hope you all stay safe and healthy through this challenging period.

01/09/2022

With COVID running through our community, lots of parents have been asking us what are the current quarantine rules and recommendations. This summary is the current guidelines after EXPOSURE TO COVID. Please refer to the other table if you are POSITIVE FOR COVID . Stay healthy and if you are interested in receiving the COVID vaccine, please contact the office.

01/05/2022

Hello, several news outlets are reporting that the CDC has approved the Pfizer vaccine as a booster for children 12+ years old. Technically, Dr Walensky, head of the CDC, needs to approve it, but this is expected to be a mere formality. We have the vaccine in our office so please call to sch'd your child's booster.
To summarize
1- We are currently giving primary series Pfizer COVID vaccines to our patients 5-11 years old.
2- We are now giving booster Pfizer COVID vaccines to all patients (and parents/families) 12+ years old. Boosters can be given to patients who finished their primary series 5 months ago (note this changed, it was previously 6 months).

01/03/2022

Happy New Year!!! We are open and seeing patient (both routine and acute), providing rapid COVID testing, and administering vaccines (incld Pfizer’s COVID peds and adult forms), but please bear with us this week as we have multiple staff members that are under quarantine regulations. We will be short staffed, so we thank you for your patience and understanding.

01/03/2022

COIVD update…part 2

Vaccines - we currently have Pfizer COVID vaccines, both the pediatric form for 5-11yo and the 12-adult version. We have been giving them out and will continue provide vaccines to our patients and their families. Because of the logistics of the vaccine, WE ARE ONLY GIVING COVID VACCINES BY APPNT. Please call if you would like to schedule a vaccine for your child (or you).

To summarize
1 - we are able to provide the Pfizer COVID vaccine (pediatric dose) to children 5-10yo
2- we are able to provide the Pfizer COVID vaccine (“adult” dose) to children 16+ yo.
CALL FOR AN APPNT

BREAKING NEWS… The FDA (Mon) 1/3/22) has recommended that youth from 11-15yo receive a 3rd booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The CDC is sch’d to meet on Wed 1/5/22 to discuss whether to approve this recommendation. If approved, children 11yo and older will be eligible to receive a booster. We will update accordingly.

Under the current CDC guidelines, those who have received a booster or have recently completed the primary series are still eligible to attend school and other functions as long as they wear a mask (see previous post). Assuming schools don’t shut down altogether (neither schools, families, nor physicians want this to happen), it may become the situation that your child’s ability to continue to attend school will be contingent upon booster status. Moreover, in the unfortunate event your child does become ill with COVID, the severity of the disease should be significantly less if they’ve recently completed the series or have recently receivecd a booster. Consider getting vaccinated/“boostered” to keep your kids well and keep our schools open.

As a reminder, HPMG does not provide mask exemptions nor vaccine exemptions unless your child has a chronic medical condition under the management of a verified pediatric subspecialist.

01/03/2022

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html

Press releases, advisories, telebriefings, transcripts and archives.

01/03/2022

Happy New Years everyone. We hope you had a safe and merry holidays. As your are aware, COVID cases everywhere are at sky high levels. Omicron is highly contagious, but it doesn’t seem to be as severe as previous varieties (keeping our fingers crossed). With each new variant comes new guidelines and recommendations. We know its mentally exhausting trying to keep up with stuff - believe us, we know!!! So here are the latest facts as we know them…
1- Quarantine/Isolation- based on the most recent CDC guidelines (12/27/21)

A-if you are positive for COVID, isolate for 5 days. At day 5, if you have no fever and are feeling better, you can then stop quarantine but should wear a mask for the next 5 days (10 days total of precautions).

B- if you have been exposed BUT have no symptoms AND completed the primary COVID vaccine series AND received a Pfizer or Moderna booster (all these conditions must be met)…THEN you’re in the clear for now. Wear a mask for the next 10 days and get tested (rapid or PCR) on day 5.

C - If you have been exposed BUT
C1 - never got vaccinated in the first place OR
C2- Never completed the primary series OR
C3- Have not received a booster in the past 6 months. (Any one of these situations)….THEN Quarantine for 5 days at home, test on day 5, and then mask for the following 5 days. If it is absolutely impossible to stay home AND YOU HAVE NO SYMPTOMS, then you’ll have to break quarantine. You must wear a mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.

D- IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS - GET TESTED

We’ve attached the CDC link, please refer to it if you have any questions, esp those that received the single dose J&J series.

More on testing and vaccines to follow…

06/28/2020

We are often asked whether COVID19 is improving in Orange County. Looking at trend in hospitalization rates is a better measure of COVID19 incidence than daily incidence. This chart was derived from the California Dept of Health's database and does not bode well for us. Please remember to practice social distancing, wear a mask (if appropriate), wash your hands, and stay safe. https://public.tableau.com/views/COVID-19PublicDashboard/Covid-19Hospitals?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no

05/17/2020

Good Afternoon, some of you may have noticed some news about a new COVID19 related complication called Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Here are our initial thoughts on the issue. We will provide any updates as we learn more.