The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) confirmed to the research unit on Wednesday that it has stopped assigning COVID-19 vaccines to One Medical, one of its key partners in the city’s vaccine rollout.
One Medical is a membership-based healthcare practice – anyone can join. After a partnership with SFDPH, it said it was administering vaccines to its own eligible participants and members of the public who were referred by the county as a temporary One Medical member.
Before this information was received, the research unit received reports from people paying the standard $ 200 membership fee to take advantage of One Medical’s easy-to-book vaccination appointment system. In some cases, the individuals said they didn’t live in San Francisco. Some said they already had other healthcare providers.
The San Francisco move comes on the same day that NPR released an investigation stating that the “high-end medical provider … administered COVID-19 vaccinations to people who did not qualify … including those with ties to company executives and customers of the medical concierge. “
In an email to the research unit, SFDPH said Monday that it had ordered One Medical to return 270 vials of the Pfizer vaccine containing 1,620 doses so that the county can redistribute them to other providers. This came after the province ordered One Medical to provide a complete overview of the vaccines administered.
After reviewing One Medical’s response, the county said the organization had vaccinated peopleunder 65 years of age who identified themselves as Phase 1a healthcare workers, but were not IHSS employees, DPH referrals, or One Medical health workers employees. “
Because of this and our inability to verify the 1a status of this cohort, DPH has stopped assigning doses to One Medical, ” wrote a county spokesman.
In an interview earlier Wednesday about the challenges One Medical and other healthcare providers face in enforcing vaccine eligibility requirements, Chief Medical Officer Andrew Diamond said there are concerns about too much enforcement.
“There are a lot of people who need vaccination the most and really don’t have the first idea of how to upload anything [for verification] … And by being overly focused on that requirement, we run the risk of vaccinating far fewer people than we actually need right now, ”said Dr. Diamond.
In a statement late Wednesday, a One Medical spokesperson wrote, “ Those we vaccinated within the unspecified ‘number’ of doses in question from the SFDPH specifically stated they were eligible health professionals … We had permission from the SFDPH to vaccinate this group and were transparent with SF DPH about our process and protocols for doing this. “
One doctor was allowed to hold on to enough doses to give second injections to people on their first dose, the province said. The SF-based provider said it hopes to continue offering vaccination services.
Candice Nguyen is an investigative reporter at NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit. Email her about this story or others at [email protected].