The Covid-19 vaccine could end up on the black market, experts warn.
The much-criticized implementation by the Trump administration laid the groundwork for a scenario in which the rich and politically connected use their money and power to align and be vaccinated in front of everyone else.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has already threatened to impose fines of up to $ 1 million and revoke the licenses of doctors, nurses and others who do not follow state and federal guidelines for the distribution of vaccines, which currently places a priority on vaccination of health in the front line. care workers and nursing home residents.
In Miami, it was reported that large donors in the hospital received the first vaccine in the vaccine, and in New York from tycoons who flew their friends to Florida to be vaccinated with doses destined for a retirement home.
And in Colorado, some teachers are crying foul after nurses and educators in richer public school districts and private schools were first vaccinated.
“It’s a little frustrating that districts that do not yet have the same wealth around them were lower on the totem pole,” said a ninth-grade teacher at Aurora Public Schools, one of the poorest in Denver, and asked not to be identified by name. “The districts that have received a lot of support have found it in front of districts that need more support.”
Arthur Caplan of New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and one of the country’s greatest bioethicists, said the lament was likely to be heard much more as the gap between vaccine and non-vaccine grows.
“We hear from some politicians, some trustees of large hospitals and others who shoot in front of health care workers and the elderly,” Caplan said. ‘I hear it too [drug manufacturing and distribution] companies say that once the government contracts are filled, their vaccinations are going to give themselves a priority. ”
The result will be higher prices for everyone else, Caplan said.
“Anything that is seen as life-saving, life-saving and that falls short creates black markets,” Caplan said, saying in an interview last month.
Scarcity has helped turn toilet paper and masks into gold early in the pandemic, and it is likely to do the same for vaccines, making it particularly attractive to thieves and foreign artists, say other experts.
“The danger exists that there is an already existing market for unregulated drugs,” said Michael Einhorn, president of medical provider Dealmed. “And the issue is that products will be imported from abroad, which may not have as strict regulations as the United States – where the product can be diverted, sold on the side and imported into the United States.”
Jonathan Cushing of Transparency International, a watchdog organization against corruption, issued a similar warning in November.
“The vaccine is likely to have a high ‘street value’, making government supplies an attractive target for theft and diversion unless adequate precautions are built into the supply chains,” Cushing wrote.
Cushing said in an email that he has not seen any “black market issues in the US” so far, but the potential is there.
“There have been reports that sub-standards or counterfeit vaccines have been made in India, and that hand-held drugs in the US have also been counterfeited in the course of the pandemic,” he said. “We’ve also seen people use compounds to gain access to drugs that are claimed to be therapies, such as hydroxychloroquine.”
‘I would argue that much of the planning for distribution in the US was done too late in the day, and that the lack of guidelines and clear eligibility criteria for receiving vaccines is probably the cause of many problems. in the U.S. at the moment, “he added.” And consequently, this lack of planning gives rise to opportunities for individuals to jump in line and take advantage of their position to get vaccinations in front of others. “
Dr Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University, agreed, adding that the lack of a coherent vaccine distribution plan is clear evidence that the federal government has not learned from the failure to accelerate testing as a way to slow down the spread. of the virus.
“The absence of federal infrastructure in provinces and states is leading to an unintended disaster, in addition to inefficient distribution,” Khan said. “The distribution of vaccines is the Groundhog Day of the Covid-19 testing at the beginning of the pandemic. These significant delays are likely to lead to more hospitalizations and preventable deaths. ”
Elected President Joe Biden, who joined the chorus of critics who defeated President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed for failing to meet his goal of exporting 20 million vaccines by the end of 2020, has vowed to ” moving heaven and earth “around the rate of distribution.
Biden also promised to invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow a president to force private companies to prioritize the production of certain items for national security.
In Colorado, teachers were thrown for a loop this week after the state Department of Public Health and Environment surprised educators by suddenly announcing Wednesday that they are responding first and prioritizing older people. The announcement comes just a week after Gov. Jared Polis placed teachers on the state’s priority list for vaccinations.
By that time, school nurses and health professionals in affluent public districts such as the Cherry Creek school district in the suburbs of Denver had already been vaccinated, as had several teachers at private schools such as Stanley British Primary School in Denver, NBC News reported.
Asked about two private teachers who posted photos of themselves holding vaccination cards online after being shot at a local pharmacy last week, Stanley British Primary School principal Sumant Bhat said in an email that he arranged no vaccinations for his staff.
“While teachers are now in the 1B category, we have been informed internally that they are currently below the line within the category, and therefore it is ‘NOT’ for the vaccine at the moment,” Bhat wrote. “We are in regular contact with our independent schools network and our public health partners to determine when we can put in place a thoughtful plan to make vaccinations available to our faculty and staff.”
Since the federal government left it to local authorities to distribute the vaccine, Caplan said the likelihood of a person not getting priority being offered a shot is increased.
Caplan’s advice to solve this ethical dilemma?
“We think the employee should accept the vaccine,” Caplan and co-ethicist Kyle Ferguson wrote. ‘What goals will be promoted through refusal? Those who experience the power of the dilemma accept that their refusal would liberate a scarce resource, that the liberated dose would end up in the arms of someone who needs it more urgently. But it is doubtful. The vaccine is unlikely to leave the institution. ”