The New York Times has a shocking story this week about a Houston doctor who had been administering vaccines until he was abruptly fired last month for distributing one vial’s worth of quickly expiring shots to people who were not registered to receive them.
The Moderna-manufactured vaccine fits up to 11 shots in one vial, and once the seal is broken, all the doses must be administered within six hours — otherwise, they go bad.
One night in late December, Pakistani immigrant Dr. Hasan Gokal had to open a vial for one last patient, which left him with another 10 doses that would be thrown away unless he gave them to someone.
The catch, as has been seen in other states such as New York under Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is that local laws mandate that shots can only go to specific groups of people. During the first phase of vaccine distribution, that has typically included nursing home patients, healthcare workers, first responders, and the elderly. To administer shots outside of those groups would be in violation of the law. Compounding the matter is the Democrats’ obsession with ensuring vaccines are distributed “equitably,” meaning that extensive care should be given in getting the vaccine to “underserved communities” and everyone else can pound sand.
The New York Times details Gokal’s frantic search for patients, with many people, including healthcare workers and law enforcement officials, simply declining to be vaccinated. He made calls to neighbors and loose acquaintances to find anyone who he believed qualified as a recipient. Gokal found some volunteers who were older and had underlying health conditions, which are known to put individuals at heightened risk of falling severely ill to COVID-19.
After exhausting all available avenues to find people within the prescribed categories, and with just minutes to spare before he would have to throw it away, he gave the final dose to his wife, a 47-year-old woman with pulmonary sarcoidosis, a condition that causes tissue inflammation of the skin and organs.
Gokal said he was sure to file all paperwork related to his chase and informed everyone who needed to know. He believed he had done everything right, but days later, he was fired and accused by the district attorney of stealing the vaccine for friends and family.
“He also said that one of the officials startled him by questioning the lack of ‘equity’ among those he had vaccinated,” according to the New York Times. “Are you suggesting that there were too many Indian names in that group?” Gokal said in response. He said he was told that yes, that was the case.
A judge dismissed the charges brought against Gokal, but the district attorney is still pursuing the case.
Welcome to “Equity America.” This is the kind of situation we can expect to keep cropping up, thanks in large part to President Biden’s new devotion to “equity.”
Enjoy!
