San Francisco and San Mateo counties have stopped providing COVID-19 vaccine to a health care provider that allegedly inoculated ineligible people.
On Monday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health instructed the provider, One Medical, to return about 1,620 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
In San Francisco, One Medical was to inoculate healthcare professionals as defined in Phase 1A of the state vaccination program, including caregivers and dentists and doctors not affiliated with a major health care provider.
But One Medical provided a report on February 17 showing that it gave “a series of doses” to people whose health status could not be verified, the department said in a statement.
San Mateo public health officials said in a statement that “the problems with One Medical have been disappointing, but they do not represent the county’s robust and successful vaccination efforts.”
One Medical is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in the United States, including several in Los Angeles. He charges patients an annual membership fee of $ 199 and advertises himself as a health provider who practices “medicine the way it should be practiced, with a focus on improving the patient experience and challenging the health status quo” and touts among its benefits “longer, not rushed commitments.”
Dr. Andrew Diamond, medical director at One Medical, said the company did not intentionally vaccinate anyone who did not qualify.
“Under no circumstances do we knowingly vaccinate anyone who does not meet the criteria of the health departments we work with,” Diamond said on Thursday.
He added: “This does not mean that bad actors cannot get away with doing bad things.”
Two employees of One Medical were fired for “improper use of a vaccine,” Diamond said, declining to provide details.
According to a note from One Medical, 96% of the people vaccinated by the company had documentation proving their eligibility, while 4% were vaccinated to avoid wasted doses.
The statement said the company routinely rejects people who do not have the necessary documentation.
In San Mateo County, educational authorities reported that One Medical vaccinated people before they were eligible under the state and county tier system.
Public health officials decided to sever ties with One Medical after an investigation revealed that the company vaccinated 70 ineligible people.
Diamond called the situation “one of the most unfortunate things that happened in our experience with the distribution or administration of vaccines”.
He said that some teachers were told by a school superintendent that they were eligible and received the photo after showing an email from the superintendent.
Diamond said the company apologized to county officials for the error. The teachers “came to us in good faith and we vaccinated in good faith,” he said.
He said he believed San Francisco’s decision to withdraw doses was not punitive, but it was intended to redistribute the vaccine in neighborhoods where One Medical has no offices.
A doctor got enough vaccine to give each recipient a second dose, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
County officials requested that unused doses be returned because of problems with recipients who were not verified health professionals, the department said in a statement.
Unused doses “will be redistributed to other providers who can target doses to prioritized populations based on health equity considerations,” the statement said.
In Los Angeles County, public health officials received a complaint in late January that One Medical had vaccinated someone who was not a health professional.
Authorities warned the company that it would no longer receive a vaccine if it did not comply with county guidelines, the county’s Department of Public Health said in a statement.
The county has not received any additional complaints about One Medical, the statement said.
In Santa Clara County, doses of the vaccine were provided to about 300 health professionals One Medical, and there was no intention to allocate more, officials said in a statement.
Times staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.