A Harris County judge on Monday rejected a charge of theft against a doctor accused of stealing nine doses of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine that he said would otherwise go to waste.
Harris County Court Judge Franklin Bynum criticized Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg for trying to prosecute Dr. Hasan Gokal and said the only misdemeanor accused of theft by a public official had no probable cause.
“In the number of words generally used to describe a retail theft allegation, the state is trying, for the first time, to criminalize the documented administration of vaccine doses by a doctor during a public health emergency,” wrote Bynum in his dispatch, adding that the prosecutor’s statement was “riddled with negligence and errors”.
Ogg spokesman Dane Schiller said prosecutors would still pursue the case.
“Judge Bynum’s free remarks call into question his fairness and impartiality; we plan to present all the evidence on the subject to a grand jury, ”said Schiller.
Gokal, who worked for Harris County Public Health, supervised a vaccine distribution site on December 29, when an open bottle with doses of Moderna remained at the end of the day, around 6:30 pm. Since the doses would expire in six. Hours, Gokal through his lawyer said he offered the vaccine to local health professionals and police, but they refused or had already been vaccinated.
Gokal said he called a health department supervisor, who did not know of any available patients. He then used contacts on his cell phone and administered about nine off-site doses to eligible recipients: elderly residents or people with certain medical conditions. Unable to find another recipient, Gokal said he gave the final dose to his wife with chronic illness after 11 pm.
Gokal said he entered all recipients into the state’s database the next day, as needed. He was fired on January 8, when Harris County Public Health leaders determined that he had violated the policy by withdrawing doses from a vaccination site.
In a press release last week, Ogg accused Gokal of stealing doses to give to his family and friends. Gokal’s lawyer, Paul Doyle, claimed that the health department fired the doctor to divert attention from a poorly administered vaccine launch.
The government has an interest in ensuring that doctors follow vaccine distribution procedures, said Valerie Gutmann Koch of the University of Chicago’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. These rules, however, must be clear and transparent.
“It is very difficult not to feel sympathy for the doctor and for all the various measures he has taken to ensure that the vaccine reaches the maximum possible,” said Koch.
The health department has yet to respond to a request from the Chronicle for its vaccine distribution protocols. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request on Monday for comments on the closure of the case.
Doyle said Gokal is preparing to sue Harris County for wrongful dismissal.
“An apology from Harris County Public Health and the Harris County Public Prosecutor to Dr. Gokal and his family will not be enough,” said Doyle. “The agency downplayed the name of this good civil servant and took his job without cause.”
Gokal, an emergency physician, started working for Harris County last April.