Health care providers who fraudulently obtain and distribute the coronavirus vaccine could lose their licenses and face up to $1 million in fines, under a new executive order announced Monday by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The threat comes amid a widening fraud investigation into ParCare Community Health Network, a chain of urgent care clinics catering to Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Orange County. Over the weekend, the state accused the network of illegally obtaining the vaccine and administering it to members of the public.
"You’re going to see more and more of this," Cuomo predicted on Monday. "It’s almost an inevitable function of human nature and of the market place."
He added that the state was prepared to revoke the license of health care providers — including nurses and pharmacists — caught committing vaccine fraud. “If you engage in fraud on this vaccine we will remove your license to practice in the State of New York, so we are very serious about this,” Cuomo said.
As thousands of vaccine doses have arrived in New York, the state has placed strict limits on who can receive them — starting with at-risk healthcare workers, nursing home staff and residents. Those restrictions have not stopped some people who fall outside of the priority categories from obtaining doses, inflaming tensions at some area hospitals.
ParCare is currently the only health care distributor in New York facing a criminal investigation related to alleged vaccine opportunism, Cuomo said. The company has claimed that it legally secured 2,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine, before administering 869 of them in accordance with state health protocols. Photos of local rabbis receiving the vaccine, promoted by ParCare, have since been deleted.
Howard Zucker, the state's health commissioner, alleged on Monday that ParCare — which is reportedly grappling with massive debt after acquiring another health care company — had repeatedly deceived authorities.
"We provided them the vaccine because they fraudulently filled out a form that said they were a qualified health center, that was incorrect, so that’s strike one," Zucker said on Monday. "They moved it from one area to another area, which is inappropriate, so that’s strike two. And then they gave it to people not on the priority list, so that’s strike three."
A spokesperson for the company told Gothamist that ParCare was cooperating with the state, and had already returned the remaining stockpile of vaccine doses.
"Governor Cuomo himself stressed the importance of getting all the facts, and providing the facts to the state is exactly what we have done and will continue to do," the group said in a statement. "As always, our priority continues to be the health and wellbeing of our fellow New Yorkers.”
The spokesperson did not say if those who received the first inoculation would receive a second dose. Calls to a Brooklyn ParCare location on Monday yielded an automated message: "If you are calling regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, press 1."
