A health care network with clinics in Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg is under criminal investigation for providing unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Saturday.
The ParCare Community Health Network “may have fraudulently obtained the COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines, and diverted it to the public,” said state commissioner Howard Zucker in a press release. .
The statement came hours after The Post questioned a state health service spokesperson about ParCare giving the coveted vaccinations.
The network’s actions appear to run counter to the state’s plan to administer the limited supply of vaccines first to primary care health workers, as well as nursing home residents and staffers, the statement said.
Currently, there is not enough vaccine for the groups that should receive it first.
“The supply of the COVID-19 vaccine remains limited and does not yet meet the demand of the priority groups for the first vaccination,” said Dr. Jane Zucker, the municipal health department’s assistant immunization commissioner Thursday.
The news site BoroPark24 reported on Dec. 21 that ParCare claimed it had received 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
“Hundreds of patients have already been vaccinated today and people are still coming in,” Gary Schlesinger, ParCare’s CEO and president, told the news site.
Schlesinger also said he expected to vaccinate 500 people in Boro Park that same day.
ParCare set up a website, parcarevaccine.com, where residents could sign up for the vaccine.
“You have to be on that list,” Schlesinger told BoroPark24, adding that he expected to get more vaccines every day. “Once you’re on the list, we need to see a vet to make sure you are a health professional, over the age of 60 or have underlying conditions. We will not give the vaccine to people who are not eligible for this first series of injections. “
ParCare accepts Medicare, Medicaid and most other insurance plans, the company said.
Schlesinger is politically well-connected in the Orthodox Jewish community. He has cultivated ties with Mayor de Blasio, Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Brooklyn president and mayoral candidate Eric Adams, sources said.
A ParCare ad claimed that “the FDA had authorized the network” to receive “a minimum number of COVID-19 vaccines.”
“The vaccines will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis,” the ad says.
It adds that the vaccines will be given “Only to humans in the following categories” and lists: “Elderly, high risk, underlying conditions.”
A community member told The Post that his father, in his 60s, had received the vaccine at the ParCare clinic in Williamsburg.
“It is known in the community that you can get a vaccine if you want,” said the resident, adding “it is a mystery” how the clinic got its stock.
“We take this very seriously and DOH will assist the state police in a criminal investigation into this matter. Anyone who has knowingly participated in this scheme will be held liable to the fullest extent of the law,” said the state health commissioner.
Schlesinger was not immediately available for comment.