San Mateo and Alameda counties say they have stopped distributing additional vaccines for One Medical, a national SF-based health practice, the Research Unit confirmed with the counties on Thursday.
One Medical is a national healthcare provider with patients who pay $ 199 to become new members. On Wednesday, our team reported that the San Francisco County Department of Public Health (SFDPH) penalized One Medical for vaccinating ineligible patients and planning unauthorized vaccination events, such as walk-ins and a mass vaccination launch on Oracle Park.
We received this information after asking SFDPH about reports we received from people who paid the fee just to take advantage of the organization’s easy-to-book vaccine booking system.
Read: SF Penalizes One Medical for Vaccinating Ineligible Patients
On Thursday, the San Mateo County spokesman sent a statement saying the county had received a complaint and found that One Medical used vaccines to vaccinate 70 ineligible people. The county immediately stopped supplying One Medical vaccines on February 5, the spokesman wrote, and terminated its agreement with the practice.
In response, the company said in a statement, “in good faith – vaccinated a group of public school teachers who were referred to One Medical by the school superintendent.”
Alameda County officials said in late January that they had allocated hundreds of naps for One Medical, but after finding out that the practice was planning to vaccinate more than its health care professionals, they stopped distribution.
On Thursday, One Medical said it has not received information that it is not receiving future allocations from Alameda County. The NBC Bay Area contacted the county authorities for clarification.
“The problems with One Medical have been disappointing, but they are not representative of the county’s robust and successful vaccination effort,” San Mateo County officials said in a statement.
In response to county penalties, One Medical issued a statement saying: “Those we vaccinated within the unspecified ‘number’ of doses in question from [San Francisco Department of Public Health] specifically attested that they were eligible health professionals.
“We had permission from SFDPH to vaccinate this group and we were transparent with SFDPH about our process and protocols for doing so,” said One Medical. “We are proud of our team’s unwavering dedication to doing our best to save lives at this critical time.”
Candice Nguyen is an investigative reporter for the NBC Bay Area. Send her an email about this story or others at [email protected]