New York State Police will forward the ParCare Community Health Network to the New York attorney general’s office for allegedly misappropriating the Modern vaccine, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.
State health commissioner Howard Zucker said the Orange County-based health provider obtained the vaccine under false pretenses, transferred it to Brooklyn and gave it to people who were not on the priority list. Although ParCare is the only organization currently under criminal investigation, the governor said recipients of the vaccine who violate the state’s distribution plan could also face charges.
“Whenever you have valuable merchandise being distributed, you should expect fraud,” said Cuomo.
Under the current New York plan for the “1A” distribution, only medical workers, first responders and members of the nursing home staff can receive the coronavirus vaccine. Other groups will follow in future rounds.
“We take this very seriously,” said Zucker in a statement last week. “Anyone found to have consciously participated in this scheme will be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”
New York State Police and other investigators were at the ParCare site in Borough Park on Saturday night.
A ParCare spokesman told ABC News on Sunday night that he is cooperating with the state investigation and will return his unused bottles. ParCare received 2,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine, 869 of which have already been administered, according to the press office.
“ParCare followed all NYS DOH procedures for obtaining the Moderna vaccine and was approved by the NYS DOH for distribution and by the CDC as a network website. As a result, we received the vaccines properly and provided documentation regarding correct receipt vaccines to NYS DOH, “the spokesman told ABC News.
With regard to patients who received their first injection, ParCare said he “will work with the state to ensure that we provide the second dose for our patients”.
-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira, Sasha Pezenik and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.