In Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha opened an investigation after reporting that two hospital systems offered to vaccinate their council members. A Seattle hospital system has been reprimanded by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after offering COVID-19 vaccination appointments to major donors. In Kansas, too, members of a hospital council received vaccinations in the first phase of the state’s launch, which was intended for people at higher risk of infection.
Hospitals in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia also faced questions about the distribution of vaccines, including to donors, administrators and relatives of directors.
The disclosures could threaten public confidence in a national launch already marked by a lack of vaccines, appointment logjams and inconsistent standards that will be set to determine who is eligible.
“We want people to be vaccinated based on priority, not privilege,” said Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk. “Everyone deserves a fair chance to get vaccinated.”
Under the guidance of the federal government, states have set up multi-level distribution pipelines designed primarily to protect key workers and those most at risk, including older Americans. In California, for example, health care workers, first responders, nursing home residents, and people over the age of 65 are in front of the line for coveted beatings.
In some cases, it is not clear whether the rules were violated when people outside the priority groups received vaccinations. Guidelines vary by state, and hospitals may have freedom decisions. In California, providers have more leeway to ensure they do not waste the hard-to-obtain vaccine in cases where there may be a risk of losing the risk.
In Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha began an investigation into two hospital systems after The Providence Journal reported this month that members of the board of Lifespan and Care New England had been offered vaccinations.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Neronha said the report, if true, raised questions about whether the vaccine was distributed properly.
“We all know the stakes are incredibly high. People are frustrated, they’re scared,” Neronha said. “Given the lack of supply here, every dose is critical.”
Care New England spokeswoman Raina Smith said in an email that administrators will cooperate with the investigation. Lifetime spokeswoman Kathleen Hart emailed a statement stating that the hospital system had followed the guidance of Rhode Island health officials and had recently received vaccination authorization from employers and volunteers at risk. smaller, “including members of the board of directors, who fall into the category of volunteers”.
The Seattle Times reported that Overlake Medical Center & Clinics emailed about 110 donors who donated more than $ 10,000 to the hospital system, telling them vaccine slots were available. The e-mail provided donors with an access code to register for meetings by invitation only.
At the same time, the public registration site Overlake was fully booked by March. The operational director of the medical center said the invitation is a quick fix after the hospital’s scheduling system failed. Overlake closed online access to the clinic by invitation after receiving a call from Inslee staff, and CEO J. Michael Marsh apologized.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has called on the state to re-evaluate its vaccination policy to ensure that the most vulnerable, especially people of color, are a priority. Hospital donors should be banned, she said.
“We have an obligation to make sure that our fight against the pandemic does not exacerbate inequities,” she said.
Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, said it was not surprising that vaccine hospitals to inoculate their workers would generally interpret the guidelines and include those who do not work directly with patients, such as computer technicians.
But granting early vaccination board members to the hospital’s board early, regardless of the hospital’s individual reasoning, only harms public confidence that the shots are distributed fairly, Caplan said.
“It’s a reminder that if you’re rich, well connected and know how to run the system, you can get access that others can’t,” Caplan said. “Here he is, right in front of us, when it comes to vaccinations.”
Fred Naranjo, owner of an insurance company in San Francisco and chairman of the board of directors of St. Rose of Hayward, Calif., Received her first vaccine before Christmas, along with first responders and senior health care workers.
Naranjo told KNTV-TV that he is not looking for special treatment before the others. He said he is often at the hospital “walking down the halls, talking to people” and wanted to serve as a role model for others in the Hispanic community to get vaccinated.
“The main thing I wanted to do was show people how to get the vaccine and not be afraid,” Naranjo said. “That’s safe. They need to be protected.”
The hospital’s spokesman, Sam Singer, said Naranjo was the only board member to receive a vaccination as he visits the hospital weekly to meet with doctors, nurses and patients.
In Kansas, members of Stormont Board Vail Health, along with its fundraising council, received vaccinations during the first phase of the program, which focused on nursing homes and health care workers. Spokesman Matt Lara said the workers were shot first, and board members received them because they run the hospital and its day-to-day operations.
In Santa Clara County, California, southeast of San Francisco, health officials are seizing COVID-19 vaccines from a hospital after it offered the vaccine to about 65 teachers and employees in a wealthy Silicon Valley school district. , jumping over people over 65 and health workers.
Teachers and staff in the Los Gatos Union School District received an email last week from Superintendent Paul Johnson offering early vaccinations. In the email, first reported by the San Jose Spotlight, Johnson said the hospital’s offer was made in gratitude as the district raised funds for 3,500 meals that were given to front-line workers at Good Samaritan Hospital. and to another unit.
Teachers, in the e-mail, were told to replace health workers, despite the threat of perjury, to gain access to the vaccine. Good Samaritan CEO Joe DeSchryver said in a statement Tuesday that all appointments for a vaccine for people who are not health care workers or over 65 have been canceled.
“We regret the mistake we made in our efforts to use all vaccines before they expired,” he wrote.
___
Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood of Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2021 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.