- A Texas doctor has been fired and charged after being accused of stealing a vial containing the COVID-19 vaccine.
- The district attorney said the vial contained nine doses of the vaccine.
- Gokal’s lawyer told CNN that the contempt would lapse and go away.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A Texas doctor is facing charges in which he claims to have stolen nine doses of COVID-19 vaccine from his work.
Dr Hasan Gokal stole the single vial on Dec. 29 while working at the county’s vaccination center in Humble, Texas, according to the Harris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Hasan was fired and subsequently charged with felony criminal mischief, according to a public health official who reported it to his supervisors, according to prosecutors.
“He abused his position to put his friends and family in line before people who went through the legal process of being there,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “What he did was illegal and he will be held accountable under the law.”
The local health department said, though, the prosecutor, that the incorrect handling of the vaccine could lead to a loss of government funding to the country.
Read more: What to expect after a COVID-19 vaccine, from how long side effects last until when protection begins?
“Gokal disregards provincial protocols to ensure that vaccine is not wasted but administered to vulnerable populations and frontline workers on a waiting list,” the office said in a statement.
Gokal’s lawyer, Paul Doyle, told CNN that his client had only taken doses that would expire and be misused.
Doyle told CNN his client was “a dedicated civil servant who ensured that the COVID-19 vaccine dose that would otherwise have expired goes into the arms of people who meet the criteria to receive it.” ‘
“Harris County would prefer that Dr. Gokal dispose of the vaccines and try to disrespect the man’s reputation in the process of supporting this policy,” Doyle said in a statement.
If convicted of the alleged theft, a felony, Gokal faces up to one year in prison and a $ 4,000 fine.