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© Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
Victorville, California – December 17: Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Desert Valley Hospital on Thursday, December 17, 2020 in Victorville, California. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
As the country continues to record record levels of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, wealthy patients in southern California – the epicenter of the state’s Covid-19 crisis – are offering to pay full price to cut the line and be among the first to receive a vaccine.
At a number of Southern California concierge medical offices, doctors say they have received calls from their affluent clients asking if they can have early access to the extremely limited supply of vaccine doses in exchange for a financial contribution to a hospital or a charity. .
Dr Jeff Toll, whose internal medicine practice has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said a patient offered to donate $ 25,000 to the hospital in exchange for a first injection of the vaccine. Toll’s practice serves a well-heeled clientele that includes CEOs and entertainment personalities, but the doctor said he tells his patients they must also wait for the first round of vaccines to be distributed to those who have. most in need of protection.
Earlier this week, California received 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, delivering the first vaccines to frontline healthcare workers battling the virus that has caused more than 22,000 deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic.
“I think one of the difficult things is that the doctors who take care of these high powered people can say, no, we have to wait,” Toll said. “These people usually don’t have to wait.”
Toll said his practice had applied with the state of California to become a vaccine distribution center for its customers and had previously purchased special ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of stocking vials of the Pfizer vaccine.
‘They wanted it yesterday’
Dr David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said a number of his A-List clients were contacting him, saying money was not an issue if he helped them get the vaccine early.
“They wanted it yesterday,” Nazarian said. “We will play by the rules, but we are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when it is available to us.”
Southern California has seen an unprecedented spike in new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations in recent weeks, with hospital intensive care bed capacity dropping to 0% and health officials issuing dire warnings if the virus continues to spread uncontrollably.
Concierge MD LA founder Dr Abe Malkin said he has received more than 100 phone calls from people trying to get to initial doses quickly.
“I would say 5 to 10 percent of them were willing to try and donate to a charity to get pushed around,” Malkin said.
Malkin’s practice also applied to become a vaccine distributor, but focuses on the new FDA cleared Moderna vaccine, which will be easier to handle because it does not have the same extreme temperature storage requirements. than the doses of Pfizer.
Regarding the cuts, California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that the state would be “very aggressive in ensuring that those who have means, those who have influence, do not oust those who most deserve vaccines ”.
“To those who think they can get ahead of the curve, and to those who think because they have the resources, or because they have the connections that will allow them to do so. We will follow this very, very, very close, ”Newsom said this month.
“We will prioritize, and we will expect all members of the health care delivery system to be held to the same ethical standard of putting those who need it most first. And the real heroes of this pandemic are the frontline healthcare workers, these are the people we need to protect and we need to put the future first. “
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