Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine is pictured at Rady Kids's Hospital earlier than it is positioned again within the fridge in San Diego, California on Dec
Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is pictured at Rady Kids’s Hospital earlier than it is positioned again within the fridge in San Diego, California on December 15, 2020.
Adriana Drehsler | AFP | Getty Photos
Doses of the coronavirus vaccine could have been wrongfully obtained and distributed all through components of New York, the state’s high physician mentioned Saturday.
Dr. Howard Zucker, commissioner for the state’s division of well being, says his workplace acquired reviews of ParCare Group Well being Community “fraudulently” acquiring the vaccine and transferring it to “amenities in different components of the state.”
The vaccine doses allegedly diverted for “members of the general public” circumvent the state’s plan to prioritize the inoculation of frontline healthcare professionals and residents of long-term care amenities, Zucker mentioned. New York’s preliminary rollout of the vaccine it nonetheless restricted to hospitals and nursing properties.
ParCare Group Well being Community – recognized by the state as a supplier in Orange County – companies branches all through a lot of Brooklyn neighborhoods and the Higher East Aspect.
On Dec. 16, the corporate provided doses of the vaccine on a “first come first serve foundation” by means of a social media publish on Fb. The publish included a sign-up kind for the aged, folks at high-risk, and people with underlying circumstances.
One week later, ParCare shared photographs of the Moderna vaccine on Twitter, saying the corporate had acquired 1000’s of doses.
The DOH mentioned it would not remark past Zucker’s Saturday assertion.
“We take this very critically and DOH can be aiding State Police in a legal investigation into this matter. Anybody discovered to have knowingly participated on this scheme can be held accountable to the fullest extent of the legislation,” Zucker mentioned within the Saturday press launch.
An announcement from ParCare acknowledged the division of well being’s inquiry and warranted cooperation whereas the state investigates.
“Throughout these unprecedented occasions, we’ve got striven to offer vital healthcare companies and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to these certified to obtain them beneath the New York State Division of Well being’s pointers, which incorporates frontline healthcare staff and first responders,” the assertion learn, partially.
On the finish of October, New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio introduced a partnership with ParCare to extend the supply of speedy testing in a number of areas all through Borough Park and Williamsburg.