At least two investigations are underway into how the city health department provided the non-contract work to Andrei Doroshin, a student at Drexel University, with almost no public health experience.
“You know what, I did the work. We did the work. We vaccinated nearly 7,000 people,” Doroshin said in an interview with Action News.
He said the Philadelphia Department of Health is pleased that his company is using the vaccine clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for Health Workers.
“They could not do it themselves. Dr. Farley noticed it. He could not do it himself,” Doroshin said.
The city council is planning a hearing on Friday. Council Chairman Darrell Clarke wants to require the city to sign written contracts with vaccine partners, given what he calls the embarrassment and mistrust that followed. The office of the inspector general of the city is meanwhile investigating whether dr. Caroline Johnson, an acting deputy in the health department, unfairly provided Doroshin’s group and another potential applicant with undisclosed information.
“She did not favor any of these organizations over the others. She did not provide information on how to provide a clinic vaccination plan or other insider information. And she did not offer any additional doses of vaccine to any organization,” she said. said Farley. Johnson.
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Johnson, a specialist in infectious diseases, resigned over the weekend. Mayor Jim Kenney on Monday praised her previous work for the city, but said “we are going to move up occasionally” as the city responds to the pandemic.
The city council is planning a hearing on Friday on the work awarded to Doroshin’s group, Philly Fighting Covid, which distributed nearly 7,000 vaccines this month before the city closed it amid questions about its competence and privacy policy for patients.
“It was clear it was a connection. Why was it not in writing?” Councilor Cindy Bass asked at a virtual press conference Monday afternoon.
Doroshin insisted he did nothing wrong, although he admitted that he took home four doses of the hard-to-get vaccine and administered them to friends.
“The health department’s recommendation was to put it in any arm. It’s a war against a virus. At the end of the day, the doses would expire,” Doroshin said last week. “What would you have done? You have these four extra doses, you have all called. They are about to expire, says the lead, place it in an arm.”
SEE ALSO: Philly Fighting COVID CEO defends the company’s actions in a 1-on-1 interview
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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