Playing favorites? Hospital donors get their shots
Trustees, board members get vaccinated quickly
While millions of Americans wait for the COVID -19 vaccine, hospital board members, their trustees and donors around the country have gotten early access to the scarce drug or offers for vaccinations, raising complaints about favoritism tainting decisions about who gets inoculated.
In Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha opened an inquiry after reports that two hospital systems offered their board members vaccinations. A Seattle-area hospital system was rebuked by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after it offered COVID -19 vaccination appointments to major donors. And in Kansas, members of a hospital board received vaccinations during the first phase of the state’s rollout, which was intended for people at greater risk for infection.
Hospitals in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia faced questions about distributing vaccines to donors, trustees and relatives of executives.
The disclosures could erode public trust in a national rollout marked by vaccine shortages, appointment logjams and inconsistent eligibility rules state to state.
“We want people vaccinated based on priority, not privilege,” Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk said.
At the direction of the federal government, states have set up tiered distribution pipelines aimed first at protecting essential workers and those most at risk, including older Americans. In California, medical workers, first responders, nursing home residents and people 65 and older are at the front of the line.
In some cases, it’s not clear if rules were violated. Hospitals have leeway making decisions.
In Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha began an inquiry into two hospital systems after The Providence Journal reported this month that some board members of hospital systems Lifespan and Care New England had been offered vaccinations.
Neronha said the report, if true, raised questions about how the vaccine was being distributed.
“We all know the stakes are incredibly high. People are frustrated, they’re scared,” Neronha said. “Given lack of supply here, every dose is critical.”
Care New England spokeswoman Raina
Smith said in an emailed statement that administrators would cooperate with the probe. Lifespan spokeswoman Kathleen Hart emailed a statement saying the hospital system had followed guidance from Rhode Island health officials and recently received clearance to vaccinate employers and volunteers considered at lower risk, “including board members, who fall into the volunteer category.”
The Seattle Times has reported that Overlake Medical Center & Clinics emailed about 110 donors who gave more than $10,000 to the hospital system, telling them that vaccine slots were available. The email gave the donors an access code to register for appointments
We all know the stakes are incredibly high. People are frustrated, they’re scared. Given the lack of supply here, every dose is critical.” — Peter Neronha, Rhode Island Attorney General
“by invite” only.
At the same time, the public Overlake registration site was fully booked through March. The chief operating officer said the invitation was a quick-fix solution after the hospital’s scheduling system failed. Overlake shut down the invite-only clinic after a call from Inslee staff.
Arthur Caplan, ethics director at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, said that hospitals told to inoculate their workers might logically included those who don’t work with patients, like computer techs.
Early shots for board members is “a reminder
that if you’re rich, wellconnected and know how to work the system, you can get access that others can’t,” Caplan said.
Fred Naranjo, owner of a San Francisco insurance company and St. Rose Hospital board chair, got vaccinated before Christmas with first responders and medical workers.
Naranjo told KNTV-TV he wasn’t seeking favors and wanted to be a Hispanic role model.
“The main thing I wanted to do is to show people to take the vaccine and not to be afraid,” he said.
Hospital spokesman Sam Singer said Naranjo is the only board member
vaccinated because he visits the hospital weekly to meet with doctors, nurses and patients.
South of San Francisco, officials are withholding COVID -19 vaccines from Good Samaritan Hospital after it offered shots to 65 staffers from a wealthy Silicon Valley school district, skipping people over 65 and health care workers. Teachers were told in Samaritan’s email to impersonate health workers despite threat of perjury to to get vaccinated. Samaritan CEO Joe Deschryver said Tuesday vaccines for all who are not health care workers or over 65 were canceled.