Three Bay Area counties have suspended coronavirus vaccine supplies to a San Francisco health care provider whose procedures have allowed unqualified people to cross the line, local officials said.
The company, One Medical, no longer receives vaccines from San Francisco, San Mateo or Alameda provinces, and San Francisco health officials said Wednesday they have ordered One Medical to return more than 1,600 doses.
When medical officials from One Medical were questioned at a practice in the Bay Area last week, the allegations that the company does not scientifically disregard the suitability guidelines “are in direct conflict with our actual approach to vaccine administration.”
Early in the blast of the vaccine, the provinces awarded One Medical doses after the company showed it could distribute effectively. The company offered free trials of its $ 199 membership program to people who wanted to sign up for the vaccine.
But this month, officials at the San Francisco Department of Health asked One Medical to provide information on how it administered COVID-19 vaccines, after inoculating complaints about the eligibility of San Franciscans.
The company’s response indicated that people who were not eligible for the state’s vaccination criteria at that time had been vaccinated.
“Because of this and our inability to verify the (suitability) of this group, DPH has stopped allocating doses to One Medical,” a health department spokesman said in an email Wednesday.
Five days after One Medical responded to an investigation by the Department of Health, Jonathan Sears, Deputy Director of Vaccine Operations for the COVID-19 Command Center in San Francisco, ordered the return of 270 vials of Pfizer vaccine – which is 1,620 contains doses – which it listed as “stored for other uses. ”
According to officials in both provinces, the provinces of San Mateo and Alameda have also stopped allocating doses to One Medical.
One Medical is a membership concierge service that provides medical care in 12 cities and 24/7 virtual care. It expanded in 2007 from one location in San Francisco to more than 72 in the country.
California currently allows vaccines for individuals over the age of 65, as well as health care workers and other categories of essential workers, including teachers, emergencies, and agricultural workers. Initially, many local health departments struggled with supply shortages which made it difficult for them to expand the qualification among the most vulnerable groups, such as people over 75 and health workers.
In early February, the San Mateo County Department of Public Health received complaints from two school districts alleging that One Medical candidate who was not yet eligible had been vaccinated according to local and state standards, according to Rebecca Archer, San Mateo’s chief attorney for the office of the Province Council.
After investigating the allegations, the province’s Department of Public Health found that One Medical vaccinated 70 ineligible people and terminated its contract with the company on Feb. 10, Archer said. It is unclear whether all 70 of the ineligible individuals who were vaccinated were teachers because One Medical did not provide clarity, she said.
Alameda County awarded 975 doses to One Medical at the end of January, “so that they could vaccinate the Phase 1a health workers who were their members,” according to Neetu Balram, a spokeswoman for Alameda County’s health department. Phase 1a includes health care workers and residents in long-term care, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The province stopped allocating doses to One Medical, she said after the company “indicated that they intended to vaccinate more than their health workers” – the only approved group prioritized for vaccinations at the time, except for long-term care residents.
The spread of the vaccination problem is likely to be more widespread, as NPR and Forbes have also previously reported internal documents and interviews with current employees showing that One Medical had disqualified people from the West Coast.
But One Medical pushed back.
‘We are disappointed to hear that ill-informed hearsay leads to misconceptions about our COVID-19 vaccine protocols, and, more importantly, insults our company’s values in our efforts to work with Bay Area health officials. to administer COVID-19 vaccines. “We are still committed to serving our communities and hope that any misconceptions can be cleared up quickly so that we can continue this important work,” the spokesman said when asked by a Chronicle reporter last week about complaints.
The company did not immediately respond when asked on Wednesday for a response to the actions taken by Alameda and San Mateo.
The California Department of Public Health awards vaccines to both ‘multi-county entities’, such as Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, and local health departments, based on their needs, calculated according to current criteria. To speed up the spread, local health departments – usually at the provincial level – can draw up contracts with healthcare providers such as One Medical and local hospitals.
According to a spokesman for San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, One Medical has drawn up contracts with several Bay Area counties as it was one of the first health care providers in the state with the infrastructure to administer vaccines.
“To their credit, One Medical invented it early on,” said Roland Pickens, director of San Francisco’s Health Network, which is currently helping the city distribute coronavirus vaccines. The company “had infrastructure to get shots in the arms quickly,” he said.
One Medical also distributes vaccines in Marin County. Laine Hendricks, a spokeswoman for the department’s health and human services department, said the agency received an email in late January claiming that One Medical offers vaccines for people under 65. The age group could not receive vaccinations at that time.
Hendricks said the province is investigating whether One Medical is complying with the terms of its memorandum of understanding, which states it will follow the country’s vaccination policy. So far, an initial review of the data has not shown ‘clear signs of misconduct,’ “Hendricks said.
According to a provincial spokesman, One County gave about 300 doses to One Medical to vaccinate health workers. It has since given the company no more doses, but has indicated no injustice as the reason.
Archer, the San Mateo County official, noted that the country has received only one other complaint about inappropriate vaccinations, apart from One Medical – and this appears to be a false alarm.
“I think there are a lot of positives in the vaccine story,” Archer said. “It’s a shame that happened to One Medical.”
Susie Neilson and Meghan Bobrowsky are writers of San Francisco Chronicle staff. Email: [email protected], [email protected].