Philadelphia’s deputy health commissioner, Dr. Caroline Johnson, resigned after a report found that she was unfairly giving a vaccine bidding advantage to Philly Fighting COVID, the city’s largest vaccine distribution site.
The Philadelphia Inquirer obtained records revealing the special treatment that Andrei Doroshin, CEO of Philly Fighting COVID, received by Johnson, undisclosed to other Health Department employees.
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In an e-mail obtained by the publication, Johnson contacted Doroshin in December about a municipal program that allowed agencies and organizations to apply and potentially administer the vaccine.
Although the proposal had already been posted publicly, health officials were not allowed to selectively encourage individuals to enroll in the program.
“[T]These actions were inadequate because the shared information was not available to all potential candidates, “said Department of Health spokesman James Garrow in a statement to the publication on Saturday.” Although these actions may aim to help advance the city’s vaccine distribution effort, the Ministry of Health The Commissioner accepted her resignation in the city’s best interest. “
Philly Fighting COVID has filed an application, along with eight other organizations in the city, although none of the applications have been examined so far, noted The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Doroshin made headlines when the 22-year-old submitted a $ 2.7 million proposal to the Philadelphia City Council as a way to expand vaccines across the city, NPR reported on Friday.
The 22-year-old CEO had an agreement with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the mayor’s office on Jan. 9 – although the city never signed a contract with Doroshin, they delivered a portion of the vaccine doses distributed in Philadelphia.
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Philly Fighting COVID became the city’s first mass vaccination clinic earlier this year.
But the controversy quickly exploded around the young CEO, after a nurse said on Twitter that she saw him take home a “plastic bag full of vaccines”.
Doroshin then admitted to TODAY Show that he actually took four vaccines home and administered them to his friends.
He justified his actions by saying that he did not want the vaccines to go to waste.
“I maintain that decision,” he said. “I understand that I made that mistake. This is my mistake to carry for the rest of my life. But it is not the mistake of the organization.”
The city did not provide any funding for the start of Philly Fighting’s COVID, nor did it allocate any funds for the program that would allow other organizations in Philadelphia the ability to administer vaccines.
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City officials cut ties with Philly Fighting COVID earlier this week.
The resignation on Saturday of the Deputy Commissioner for Health is just the latest disaster, while city officials are trying to combat the coronavirus pandemic.