Northridge Hospital Medical Center violated state rules when it provided COVID-19 vaccinations to teachers and other staff at the private Wesley School in North Hollywood and elsewhere, provincial officials said this week.
The hospital acknowledged the error and said it would not be repeated, but the episode again raised concerns about the equitable distribution of the potentially life-saving vaccine, which is still lacking.
The untimely vaccinations came to light largely due to the openness of the school administration, which wanted parents to ensure that staff took little risk of exposure to the coronavirus as the school gradually reopened for personal services to students.
“We wanted to share it through a special program … all Wesley employees who wanted to be vaccinated were able to take advantage of an offer last week and received their first dose,” the government said in a Tuesday message. written to his community.
The problem was that teachers and other school workers were not yet authorized by the LA County Health Department to receive doses. When the school was pressured to name the source of the vaccines, the school reported that it was the medical center of Northridge Hospital.
Provincial officials quickly concluded that the hospital had acted improperly.
Wesley School jumped in front of the queue when it received COVID-19 shots for its staff.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
“The provincial department of public health has reported this incident to the state and notified the provider that this action violates the level system that now exists in LA County, which only vaccinates health care providers and persons aged 65,” according to a department statement delivered by PR manager Sienna Spencer-Markles. “We are assured that this offense will not be repeated.”
Except for an official reprimand, there appears to be no punishment for the offense. Wesley School is located in North Hollywood and charges tuition from $ 28,460 to $ 32,020 per year, depending on the degree, with a new tuition fee of $ 2,000. The parents at the school include Northridge Medical Center chief financial officer Doug Brown.
The hospital’s initial statement about the incident is inconsistent with the school’s explanation, and the hospital argued that the vaccines for educators’ ‘are aimed at 65-year-olds”, adding: ‘a good effort to all our available doses of essential workers and the elderly in our community as quickly as possible. ”
By Friday, hospital officials had decided to give additional explanations and accept responsibility for the offense. In response to questions, the hospital said its administrators had originally assumed that teachers and other essential workers, including law enforcement, would be eligible to receive the vaccine on Feb. 1.
Provincial officials said the extension of fitness could take place within the next two to three weeks. On that timetable, however, teachers are unlikely to have received the two required shots and reached the maximum immunity before campuses are eligible again.
“The hospital reached several public and private schools in the area, including day care centers, and law enforcement agencies, which invited employees and teachers to get a vaccine at the hospital on Feb. 2,” the hospital said. “A total of 14 schools and daycare responded and 164 teachers and staff members received the vaccine.”
Officials also noted that public schools in the area are one of the first to be offered. The LA Unified School District has worked hard to make vaccines available as part of a strategy to reopen campuses that have been closed for nearly a year. But Northridge’s offer made district officials uncomfortable, according to a statement from LA Unified.
In the first place, the offer was only for 100 doses, which would hardly make a dent in a school system that is estimated to require 25 000 doses to cover all the employees, just to reopen the campuses. In addition, we asked for guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which confirmed that the rules allow vaccinations to be offered only to individuals age 65 and older and certain other categories of people. ‘
The district “will only be involved in vaccination efforts which, according to [county] health rules, ”reads the statement.
The hospital then turned to other people outside the public school system.
“We realize it was premature to plan these appointments,” the hospital admitted. “When we became aware that the country did not want to continue vaccinating this group, we should have canceled these appointments.”
The hospital did not want to mention which schools received vaccinations, ‘out of respect for their privacy, and because it was an effort driven by our hospital, and not by those organizations, and we take responsibility for that.’
Wesley’s interim principal, Julie Galles, said the school was not looking for the vaccines, but she declined to say how the outreach took place.
According to the hospital, hospital staff worked to develop a list of 14 additional schools we contacted in the Valley. Several hospital staff, including our CFO, have helped reach out to these organizations. Our employees live and work in the communities we serve, and some of the schools offered vaccine were children of NHMC employees, including Wesley School. ”
In a statement issued by the hospital, Brown said the hospital was a good faith effort to help essential workers and educators. “Northridge Hospital is still committed to supporting the vaccination efforts and doing our part to end the COVID crisis,” he added.
Galles declined to answer questions about any connection between Brown’s position at the school and Wesley’s staff receiving the vaccine.
The union, which represents Los Angeles teachers, aimed a targeted target at the series of events on Friday.
“This is another reminder of how stacked the system is against color communities of color and the public schools they serve,” Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, broadcast in a weekly update to union members and the public said. .
In a statement, Galles said her school community wants all teachers to be vaccinated.
“We firmly believe that vaccinating educators is crucial to re-educating students personally,” she said in a statement. “We strongly urge public health officials to prioritize vaccination for all educators.”