A Brooklyn clinic, which is being investigated for fraudulently obtaining and redirecting the highly coveted COVID-19 vaccines, said Sunday it was no longer firing.
A handwritten sign that reads “NO vaccines !!” was recorded on the door in front of the ParCare Community Health Network in Williamsburg after The Post asked if injections were available.
Five people were seen entering the clinic at 445 Park Ave. but a reporter was denied entry, with a nurse saying, “We only allow people with appointments to enter.”
When asked if patients are being inoculated with coronavirus, the nurse said, “We don’t have vaccines.”
A man who later showed up was also barred from entering, later saying he was “of course” there to be shot.
“It’s not fair,” he stroked.
“I know people.”
A middle-aged man who passed by said the vaccinations took place there earlier.
“My father got the vaccine here,” the man said. “What, should he die for a political decision?”
Mark Meyer Appel, who leads The Bridge Multicultural Advocacy Project in Brooklyn, told The Post that he was given a chance at the clinic Wednesday after learning the vaccine was available.
Appel, 68, said he must be inoculated against COVID-19 because he has diabetes and operates a food pantry that puts him in contact with many people.
“I was in the foreground more than an ordinary person,” he said.
Appel also said that he is not “embarrassed that I received the shot”, but admitted that he posted a post on Facebook about it in response to online criticism.
On Saturday, the state Department of Health announced it was assisting state police in a criminal investigation by ParCare, a nonprofit organization that runs six clinics in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Orange County.
The investigation implicates allegations that Operation ParCare in Orange County, Kiryas Joel, “could have fraudulently obtained the COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state, violated state instructions and diverted it. to the public, ”said Commissioner Howard Zucker.
Zucker called the scam “contrary to the state’s plan to administer.” [vaccines] first in front of health workers as well as nursing home residents and staff.
“Anyone who has knowingly participated in this system will be held accountable to the fullest extent by the law,” he added.
On December 21, ParCare claimed to have received 3,500 doses of Moderna vaccine, and CEO Gary Schlesinger told the BoroPark24 website: “Hundreds of patients have already been vaccinated today and people are still entering.”
One series of tweets Early Sunday, ParCare said it was “striving to provide critical health care and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to those eligible to receive them in accordance with New York State Department of Health guidelines.”
As we actively cooperate with the New York State Department of Health in this regard, we will continue to provide high-quality health care services to help New York emerge from this pandemic.