Letter to the Editor
1 Pediatric Emergency Care Associates, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104
We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the authors' very legitimate concerns about using the emergency department (ED) for preventive care, specifically immunization. Where possible, immediate referral to the primary care provider is desirable for the reasons outlined by Dr Barton et al. However, for many children there are barriers that prevent easy access to primary care. In these cases the ED can act as an adjunct in providing immunizations to children. Ideally, the primary care and emergency medicine physicians should form a partnership to ensure optimal care.1




