According to a report by The New York Times, a New York City hospital apologized to staff after it revealed that some employees had been given access to the coronavirus vaccine despite being in the low-risk categories.
In an email to staff obtained by the Times, a director of the New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital said he was “disappointed and saddened that this was happening.”
According to hospital distribution rules, the most exposed workers had to receive the vaccine first.
However, amid rumors that anyone could be lining up for the vaccine, several lower-risk workers, some of whom had worked from home during the pandemic, received it, the Times reported.
“We are proud to have vaccinated thousands of patient-facing workers in just over a week, and we will continue to do so until everyone gets a vaccine,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement.
“We follow all New York State Department of Health guidelines on vaccine priority, with our initial focus on [intensive care unit] and [emergency department] staff and fair access for all, ”it said.
The Hill has reached out to NewYork-Presbyterian for confirmation and comment.
Employees at several other hospitals in the New York City area also told the Times they objected to the way the vaccine had been distributed, but feared professional retaliation for their statements. Some doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital were reportedly able to get the vaccine by simply saying they handled “COVID-related procedures.”
Most states have prioritized health professionals and the elderly in distributing the vaccine. Individual hospitals are largely given the freedom to develop their own vaccination plans, according to the Times.
A doctor on Mount Sinai said that not all the rumors about the ease with which one could hope on the line were true, but that their very existence showed a lack of confidence among the workers.
Ramon Tallaj, who is part of a vaccine rollout advisory group, told the Times that the sense of competition is likely to fade as access to the vaccine improves.
“People are going to argue about who goes first or who doesn’t go first, but the important thing is that it happens,” he told the paper.
“I think it’s sad that people are starting to turn against each other,” a doctor working at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital told the Times. ‘Can you honestly say this servant deserves it before I do it? No, but no one deserves it more than anyone else. “
Updated at 6:10 pm