[ad_1]
A South Bay hospital’s decision to allow affluent educators to bypass the queue for a COVID-19 vaccine could have legal implications.
San José Spotlight has learned that the county district attorney’s office is examining whether laws were broken when the Good Samaritan allowed teachers and staff in the Los Gatos school district to receive vaccines before more vulnerable populations were shot. pass for health workers.
“We are aware of the allegations and are investigating the matter,” said Sean Webby, spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
As the San José Spotlight first reported on January 22, Los Gatos Union School District Superintendent Paul Johnson emailed teachers and staff to let them know they can sign up for get vaccinated at Good Samaritan at the request of the hospital operations manager. Johnson told staff the hospital was offering vaccines because they had “not forgotten” the school district’s campaign last year to raise funds to buy meals for hospital workers.
And since Santa Clara County currently only vaccinates healthcare workers and people over 75, Johnson has asked staff to “sign up under the healthcare buttons.”
Los Gatos teachers and staff who enrolled under the health care option had to certify that they were health workers or face perjury. This begs the question of whether Johnson, hospital officials or others could have conspired to commit perjury while purchasing vaccines.
Webby declined to provide further details on Monday.
Johnson denied that the teachers’ vaccines were part of a quid pro quo and apologized to teachers and staff at Los Gatos for the “lack of communication” in a follow-up email obtained by the San José Spotlight.
The county is following state guidelines for vaccine distribution, but faces a supply shortage. Even though state guidelines allow immunization of people 65 and older, most providers in Santa Clara County immunize residents 75 and older due to the limited number of vaccines available.
The Good Samaritan himself reported to the county that he was only vaccinating health workers due to the shortage.
Hours after the news agency’s report, Santa Clara County COVID-19 testing manager Dr.Marty Fenstersheib sent a letter to Good Samaritan saying the county would withhold future doses of the hospital vaccine until. ” He agrees to follow state guidelines on vaccine distribution and submit a plan. to do this.
“The county will provide Good Samaritan with sufficient vaccine doses to complete the vaccination of people for whom Good Samaritan has already administered a first dose of vaccine,” Fenstersheib wrote, “but the county will not provide Good Samaritan with any additional vaccine doses. unless Good Samaritan provides sufficient assurances that it will follow state and county guidelines on vaccine eligibility and provides the county with a concrete plan through Good Samaritan will do so.
Good Samaritan Hospital CEO Joe DeSchryver said the decision to administer the vaccines was “to avoid wasting stocks already thawed”.
“Afterward, we realized that we had made a mistake and we sincerely apologize for any confusion this may have caused our community and our colleagues,” said DeSchryver. “We are committed to working with the county on a plan to ensure clarity and adherence to state and county guidelines on vaccine eligibility, which we did before this isolated incident.
DeSchryver said the hospital was conducting an internal investigation “to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Good Samaritan did not answer questions about whether he has submitted a plan to the county to receive more doses of the vaccine.
Contact Madelyn Reese at [email protected] and follow her @MadelynGReese on Twitter.
[ad_2]
Source link