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A hospital system administered COVID vaccines to about two dozen wealthy donors, administrators, and people linked to executives and supervisors in an era when only healthcare workers and nursing home residents were eligible, according to a report published.
The report, released by New Jersey 101.5, alleged that Hunterdon Medical Center distributed vaccines to people linked to the hospital as the state rollout began in December and early January.
The report, based on a vaccine registry document provided to the news organization by a whistleblower, said young adult children of hospital executives and supervisors were also able to get vaccinated at a time when only Frontline healthcare workers and long-term care residents were eligible for vaccines.
The hospital said some of the people received vaccines because extra doses were left at the end of the day.
“At the start of the vaccine administration, when we were getting extra doses at the end of a day in the clinic due to no-shows or because our pharmacists had managed to extract more doses from each vial than expected, we’ve done our best to make sure those doses got into someone’s arm rather than going unused, ”Kathleen Seelig, a spokesperson for Hunterdon Healthcare System, told NJ Advance Media.
She said the facility was looking for “clinicians first and making sure that all the health workers in the system who wanted the vaccine get it.”
“If the doses remained available after all available health workers had been vaccinated, then and only then did we immediately contact other people, which included first family members of the clinic workers, followed by volunteers, which included board members, community members and executives. she says. “We believed, and still believe, that it was better to vaccinate someone available to us than to let any vaccine go to waste. We have also confirmed this protocol with the Ministry of Health, which has repeatedly called on health care organizations to take the vaccine into action.
Hunterdon Healthcare said it has administered more than 8,000 doses of the vaccine to healthcare clinicians, the elderly and those at risk since this week. He said he could deliver up to 7,000 doses per week once the supply is available.
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When Gov. Phil Murphy was asked about the report during his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, he said he had not read the report but said the ‘bad actors’ could lose their vaccine supply rare.
“If that turns out to be the case, and they did it on purpose in the face of advice that was perfectly clear, it’s incredibly offensive,” Murphy said. “If people ape like that, it will have an impact on how many doses they get from us in the future.”
The governor and the health commissioner have said in the past that they do not want to see wasted doses, noting that there was some confusion at the start of the vaccination program as to whether board members hospital, for example, should receive a vaccine with other health problems. caregivers.
The report also says that the day before the elderly and people with health problems become eligible for vaccines, the hospital system sent a letter to donors.
“Although the schedule for someone to receive this vaccine can be complicated, the Foundation is here to help. This does not mean that you will receive the vaccine earlier than the category you fall into, but rather that we will help you navigate a process that evolves rapidly and can sometimes be complex, ”said the January 13 letter from the Hunterdon Healthcare Foundation, says the report. “Who can get the vaccine and when must follow strict guidelines set by the State of New Jersey and the Center for Disease Control.”
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Karin Price Mueller can be contacted at [email protected].
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