Dr. Hasan Gokal defends his decision to give away COVID-19 vaccines that were about to expire, even after he was fired from his position as medical director of the Harris County Texas Department of Public Health over the decision.
The doctor in Houston said he had an open vial with 10 doses of Moderna vaccine ready to expire that day in December 2020 when he wasted it rather than people to find people who could be eligible for it to take in. He was subsequently fired, charged with theft by a government official and accused of violating the province’s protocols. A judge later dismissed the charges.
Gokal spoke to co-host The View on Wednesday to share his side of the story and discuss his reasoning behind the decision.
Moderna’s vaccines have a shelf life of six hours once the vials are opened. Over time, Gokal said he went to ask his staff if anyone should be vaccinated, but no one there wants it.
“If there were no other options, I would have contacted people who I think would be eligible or know someone who would be eligible,” he told The View.
Gokal said he only arranged for people to receive the doses after talking “with” one of the directors of Harris County “to” make sure they know “what he was going to do.
All the people who receive doses fall within the fitness guidelines and meet various criteria from age to health problems that can cause a severe case of COVID-19. The day after Gokal gave them the shots, he said he handed in the appropriate paperwork and explained what he had done, but he was fired a week later.
“I did not think it was real. I just thought there was a misunderstanding,” Gokal said. “From a moral perspective, from the perspective of doing the right thing, I did what I believe was expected.”
In a January 21 press release from Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, she said a week had passed before he said ‘a Harris County public health official, who then reported him to supervisors. ‘
Gokal said he not only followed his own intuition, but also guidance from the Texas Department of State Health Services. He said the agency had advised him not to waste doses of vaccines and to give ‘to the appropriate people’ if necessary.
He also said he administered the vaccine doses on the first day that Harris County began vaccinating the public.
“We had no priority over this,” Gokal said. “Over time, however, we have priority. We know people are learning. They are doing the right thing all over the country.”
“There is hope,” he adds. “We learn and we start better with each passing day.”
Among those who soon dropped the doses of the vaccine was his wife, who has pulmonary sarcoidosis of the lung disease. Gokal said it was “not an easy decision” to give her the dose and that he “did not intend to give it at the beginning.”
“The ten people I would get that night were not family, not even friends,” Gokal said. “They were acquaintances and people who knew them.”
Gokal said he decided to give his wife a dose when he realized the last person receiving it did not appear, and there were about 20 minutes left before the vaccine expired. Gokal felt he ‘did not have a choice’, he said.
“Although I know my wife is eligible – probably more than many others who have received it – the reality was that I wanted to make sure we were doing things the right way,” Gokal said.
‘I was planning to get the vaccine at once [that was] appropriately, through the appropriate channels, “he added.” But look, I have a vaccine … and I have someone who is very eligible for this, even if it’s my own wife. “
Gokal said his wife was “in and out of the hospital” because of her condition and breast surgeries.
When the vaccine was given, Gokal said his wife ‘looked back at me and said,’ Is this the right thing to do? “I said, ‘Hon, that’s actually the right thing to do.’ ‘
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office is still planning to bring his case before a grand jury, according to The New York Times.
“He abused his position to put his friends and family in line in front of people who had gone through the legal process of being there,” Ogg said in the January 21 press release. “What he did was illegal and he will be held accountable by law.”
The Texas Medical Association and Harris County Medical Society issued a statement earlier this month in support of doctors like Gokal scurrying “to prevent the vaccine from spilling into a punctured vial.”
“There’s much more to the story than just a doctor trying to take advantage of a situation and give it to friends and family,” Gokal said. “That’s not what happened.”
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