The decision of a South Bay hospital to allow wealthy educators to pass a COVID-19 vaccine could have legal consequences.
San José Spotlight has learned that the district attorney’s office was investigating whether any laws were violated when Good Samaritan teachers and staff in the Los Gatos Union School District allowed vaccines in front of more vulnerable populations by pretending to be health workers.
“We are aware of the allegations and are investigating the case,” said Sean Webby, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
As first reported by San José Spotlight on January 22, Los Gatos Union School District Superintendent Paul Johnson sent an email to teachers and staff reporting that they could enroll in a vaccine at the Good Samaritan at the behest of the hospital chief. Johnson told staff that the hospital offers vaccines because they “did not forget” the field of the school district last year to raise funds to buy meals for hospital workers.
And since Santa Clara County currently only vaccinated health care workers and people over the age of 75, Johnson instructed staff to ‘sign up under the health care buttons’.
The Los Gatos teachers and staff who enrolled under the health care option had to testify that they are health care workers who are under criminal penalty. This raises questions as to whether Johnson, the hospital’s leadership or others may have committed a conspiracy to commit perjury while reporting for vaccinations.
Webby declined to provide further information Monday.
Johnson denied that the vaccines for teachers were part of a quid pro quo, and apologized to Los Gatos teachers and staff for the “wrong communication” in a follow-up email that San José Spotlight received.
The country follows the guidelines of the state for the distribution of vaccines, but has had too little stock. Although state guidelines allow the vaccination of 65-year-olds and older, most providers in Santa Clara Province vaccinate residents 75 years and older due to the limited vaccinations available.
The Good Samaritan himself reported to the province that he was only vaccinating health workers due to the shortage.
Hours after the report of this news organization, the COVID-19 testing officer of dr. Marty Fenstersheib in Santa Clara County wrote a letter to the Good Samaritan saying the country would withhold future vaccine doses from the hospital until he agreed to follow the state’s guidelines on vaccine distribution and submit a plan. to do it.
“The county will give Good Samaritan sufficient vaccine doses to complete the vaccination of the people for whom Good Samaritan has already given a first dose of vaccine,” wrote Fenstersheib, “but the county will provide Good Samaritan no extra vaccine doses unless and until The Good Samaritan provides sufficient assurance that it will follow the direction of the state and the province regarding the vaccinations for vaccine and give the province a concrete plan by the Good Samaritan.
Good Samaritan Hospital CEO Joe DeSchryver said the decision to administer the vaccines was to avoid wasting the stock that had already been thawed. ‘
“Then we realized we were wrong and apologize for any confusion it caused for our community and our colleagues,” DeSchryver said. “We are committed to working with the province on a plan to ensure that we have clarity and we abide by the guidelines of the state and the province on the admission to vaccines, which we did before this isolated incident. “
DeSchryver said the hospital is conducting an internal investigation to ensure it does not happen again.
The Good Samaritan did not respond to questions about whether he had submitted a plan to the country to receive more vaccine doses.
Contact Madelyn Reese at [email protected] and follow her @MadelynGReese on Twitter.