Fired Harris County doctor accused of stealing the COVID-19 vaccine, prosecutor Kim Ogg said

A Harris County public health doctor is accused of stealing a bottle of the COVID-19 vaccine, Harris District Attorney Kim Ogg announced in a press release on Thursday.

Authorities said Dr. Hasan Gokal stole the bottle containing nine doses while working at the Lyndsay Lyons Park county vaccination site in Humble on December 29, 2020.

A week later, he told a colleague from Harris County Public Health, who reported him to supervisors.

According to Harris County Public Health, improper handling of the vaccine could result in the loss of government funds for the county, which sparked an investigation into the prosecution.

Gokal was subsequently fired.

Then Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo and county attorney Christian Menefee contacted prosecutors.

“He abused his position to put his friends and family in front of people who had gone through the legal process to be there,” said Ogg. “What he did was illegal and he will be held accountable under the law.”

Authorities said Gokal disregarded county protocols in place to ensure that the vaccine was not wasted, but administered to vulnerable populations and frontline workers on a waiting list.

Gokal faces a class A misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $ 4,000 fine. He is being sued by the Harris County Public Corruption Division.

Paul Doyle, Gokal’s official lawyer, released a statement on Wednesday:

Dr. Gokal is a dedicated public servant who ensured that doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that would otherwise expire, went into the arms of people who met the criteria for receiving it. Harris County would have preferred Dr. Gokal to waste vaccines and is trying to undermine this man’s reputation in the process of supporting this policy. We look forward to our day at the court to correct that mistake.