New York will hold companies accountable for committing fraud in their distribution of coronavirus vaccines, issuing a fine of up to $1 million to any offending corporation and revoking its license to practice in the state, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Were you sent the vaccine because you made false representations? That’s the question,” Cuomo said during a press conference held Monday afternoon.
The governor said that with the order he was signing, offending healthcare providers could lose their state license and be subjected to both civil and criminal penalties. He said that all cases would be referred to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“If you violate the law on these vaccinations, we will find out, and you will be prosecuted,” Cuomo said.
The order comes after ParCare, a community health network with locations throughout the New York City metropolitan region, was accused of having used deceptive means to acquire more than its allotted share of COVID-19 vaccines. James opened a criminal investigation into the matter, which was still pending at the time of Cuomo’s announcement.
In an email to the Washington Examiner, ParCare denied any wrongdoing and stated that it had returned its unused vaccines.
“In an effort to fully cooperate with NYS DOH, we have proactively returned the vaccines pending the Department’s review,” the spokesperson said. “We are confident the end result of that review will show that ParCare at all times exerted best efforts to comply with all NYS DOH requirements and will allow us to continue to achieve our number one goal of providing these critical vaccines to the New Yorkers who need them most.”
According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, New York has experienced 932,552 diagnosed cases of the coronavirus, the fifth-most in the nation. The Empire State has also suffered 37,530 deaths attributed to the disease, the most of any state in the nation.
