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The 22-year-old CEO of a company, who once worked with the city of Philadelphia to distribute coronavirus vaccines, but now embroiled in controversy, admitted he took vaccines home and injected in his friends.
Andrei Doroshin made the confession Thursday on TODAY Show in what was his first TV interview since the fallout from the scandal involving Philly Fighting COVID, a group that had previously injected city-issued vaccines. The city has since severed ties after the group did not disclose it had recently become a for-profit corporation, after collecting personal information from thousands of residents.
Doroshin defended his decision to inject his friends, despite not being a registered nurse. He told TODAY’s Stephanie Gosk that he had given her four remaining doses and was about to expire. Doroshin claimed he and his group made calls looking for high-risk people who qualified for a shot but couldn’t find anyone.
“I stand by this decision. I understand that I made this mistake. It’s my mistake to wear for the rest of my life, but it’s not the organization’s mistake, ”Doroshin said.
City health officials said on Wednesday that an audit of vaccine doses administered to Philly Fighting COVID found “no evidence that the vaccine was wasted, stolen or misused.”
The decision by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to partner with 9-month-old startup PFC, despite a litany of other options in the hospital-heavy city, was startling from the start.
“Why we have to rely on an organization that is less than nine months old, created by students primarily to produce PPE, and not by organizations that have been proven to help people fight COVID-19, that exceeds, ”Katherine passes me. Gilmore Richardson said. “I am flabbergasted, I am dismayed and I will never understand how it happened.”
The group never signed a contract with the city before receiving doses of the vaccine because, said Department of Health spokesman James Garrow, the city did not receive federal funds to distribute the doses. . Instead, the city only requires organizations to complete an interest form before receiving and distributing the vaccine, he said.
The city has refused to make public the enrollment form that Philly Fighting COVID filled out to begin receiving doses.
Initially, the group tested for the coronavirus and moved to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where they ran vaccination clinics and injected nearly 7,000 people. But in recent weeks, the Health Department said the PFC abruptly stopped testing for the virus, also a key part of the partnership.
As late as January 8, the city actively directed people to the group’s website to “pledge” to be notified when they qualified for a vaccine. However, the group only recently released a privacy policy, following concerns about the sale of people’s personal information, which Doroshin said did not happen and would violate HIPAA rules.
The city has since set up its own website and encourages people to sign up instead.
PFC has also started billing jurisdictional companies for vaccines, although they receive them for free. Doroshin also defended the move, saying the donations the group was receiving were not enough to cover the costs of running the vaccination clinics.
However, reports from WHYY and Billy Penn have since indicated that Doroshin embellished his resume and still planned to turn a profit. A former PFC volunteer told media that Doroshin openly brags about taking the opportunity to become a millionaire.
The group has also come under scrutiny for other allegedly low-quality practices.
Katrina Lipinsky, a registered nurse and former PFC volunteer, told NBC10 that she found it “unusual” that the group did not ask to see her credentials before allowing her to administer vaccines.
It is now unclear whether Doroshin, who says he recently received death threats, will face criminal charges. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Kraner and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro are reviewing the matter.
Several Philadelphia city council members are also calling for hearings on the city’s partnership with the group.
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