Public prosecutor Kim Ogg said in a statement on Thursday that Hasan Gokal is accused of theft by a public official, a misdemeanor that carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $ 4,000 fine.
Gokal is accused of taking a nine-dose bottle on December 29, 2020. He was working at a vaccination site in Humble, north of Houston, said Ogg.
Authorities say the doctor “disregarded county protocols in place to ensure that the vaccine was not wasted, but administered to vulnerable populations and frontline workers on the waiting list.”
“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 in the statement. “What he did was illegal and will be held accountable to the law.”
Gokal’s lawyer said his client hopes to fix what he calls wrong.
The doctor is “a dedicated public servant who has ensured that dosages of the COVID-19 vaccine, which would otherwise expire, go into the arms of people who met the criteria for receiving it,” said lawyer Paul Doyle in a statement. “Harris County would have preferred Dr. Gokal to let the vaccines go to waste and is trying to undermine this man’s reputation in the process of supporting this policy.”
Gokal told a colleague what he did and that person reported him to supervisors, officials said. He was later fired.
The Harris County Department of Public Health said it would not issue a statement.
Doyle said he hopes to have more to say on the subject on Friday.
CNN was unable to confirm Gokal’s first appearance in court.