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To the Editors:
I would like to commend the authors of “Primary Care’s Historic Role in Vaccination and Potential Role in COVID-19 Immunization Programs” (1) for calling out and documenting the critical role primary care plays in responding to epidemics. As trusted, local providers, primary care clinicians have central roles in providing understandable, trustworthy health information and care, including vaccinations, especially to the most vulnerable. The need for primary care and public health to coordinate planning and activities was highlighted in the 2012 National Academies of Medicine Report, “Primary Care and Public Health: Exploring Integration to Improve Population Health” (2) but it took COVID-19 to accelerate those recommendations, and this report to document the large role primary care plays in vaccination. In addition, examples of primary care groups leading community responses were highlighted in a report on the need for community engagement in responding to COVID-19 (3), while a very recent report discussed how an academic group took on local and state leadership roles (4). Put together, these reports document the central role of primary care as a key partner in working with communities responding to health crises.
Lloyd Michener, MD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Duke School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Public Health Leadership, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Board Chair, Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation
PI, the Practical Playbook
1. Wilkinson E, Jetty A, Petterson S, Jabbarpour Y, Westfall JM. Primary Care's Historic Role in Vaccination and Potential Role in COVID-19 Immunization Programs. Ann Fam Med. 2021 Jul-Aug;19(4):351-355. doi: 10.1370/afm.2679. Epub 2021 Mar 11. PMID: 33707190.
2. Institute of Medicine. 2012. Primary Care and Public Health: Exploring Integration to Improve Population Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
3. Michener L, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alberti PM, Castaneda MJ, Castrucci BC, Harrison LM, Hughes LS, Richmond A, Wallerstein N. Engaging With Communities - Lessons (Re)Learned From COVID-19. Prev Chronic Dis. 2020 Jul 16;17:E65. doi: 10.5888/pcd17.200250. PMID: 32678059; PMCID: PMC7380298.
4. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Gabriela M. Maradiaga Panayotti, Leonor Corsino, Irene C. Felsman, Rosa M. Gonzalez-Guarda, Gabriela A. Nagy and Alejandro Peña. Health and Wellness for Our Latina Community: The Work of the Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19 (LATIN-19). North Carolina Medical Journal July 2021, 82 (4) 278-281; DOI: https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.82.4.278