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– A Houston doctor fired for stealing doses of coronavirus vaccine says he is not the bad guy that news reports around the world say is his. Hasan Gokal tells New York Times that after a nurse pierced an 11-dose vial to administer a vaccination at an event to vaccinate rescuers who had been cut off on Dec. 29, he needed to figure out what to do with the remaining doses before they passed within hours . Gokal, who oversaw the event, says health workers and police officers at the site either rejected him or had already been vaccinated. He says that after a Harris County official approved his plan to distribute the remaining doses, on his drive home, he started calling people in his phone’s contact list to find eligible recipients.
Gokal says he vaccinated nine mostly older people, including a woman in her 90s, but had one dose left after the final recipient called shortly before the deadline to say they couldn’t get to his home. He says that, with a few minutes left, he vaccinated his wife because of her lung condition. Gokal says he said to her, “I wasn’t going to give you this, but in half an hour I’ll have to throw this in the bathroom.” Days after telling his supervisor about the vaccinations and submitting the paperwork, he was fired. He says officials told him he should have returned the doses to the office – where they would have expired – or thrown away. He was charged with stealing the $ 135 vaccine doses. A judge dismissed the charge days later, but the local prosecutor plans to present it to a grand jury, ABC13 reports. The Texas Medical Association has issued a statement of support to physicians who are taking steps to prevent dose wastage. (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccines.)