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At several concierge medical offices in Southern California, doctors say they have received calls from their wealthy clients asking if they can get early access to the extremely limited supply of vaccine doses in exchange for a financial contribution to a hospital or charity. . .
Dr. Jeff Toll, whose boutique internal medicine practice has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said a patient offered to donate $ 25,000 to the hospital in exchange for an early injection of the vaccine. Toll’s practice serves a wealthy clientele that includes CEOs and entertainment figures, but the doctor said he is telling his patients that they, too, should wait while the first round of vaccines is distributed to those most in need of protection.
Earlier this week, California received 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, giving the first injections to front-line healthcare workers battling the virus that has caused more than 22,000 deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic. .
“I think one of the difficult things is that the doctors who care for these high-powered people can say, no, wait,” Toll said. “These people don’t usually have to wait.”
Toll said his practice has applied to the state of California to become a vaccine distribution center for its customers and has already purchased special ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of storing vials of Pfizer vaccine.
‘They wanted it yesterday’
Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said that several of his A-list clients are reaching out to him, saying money is not an issue if it helps them get the vaccine early.
“They wanted it yesterday,” Nazarian said. “We will follow the rules, but we are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when it becomes available.”
Concierge MD LA founder Dr. Abe Malkin said he received more than 100 phone calls from people trying to get early access to starting doses.
“I would say that between 5 and 10 percent of them were willing to try to make some contribution to a charity to get in line,” according to Malkin.
Malkin’s practice has also run to become a vaccine distributor, but it focuses on the Modern vaccine, recently cleared by the FDA, which will be easier to handle because it does not have the same extreme temperature storage requirements as doses of Pfizer.
When it comes to cutting ranks, California Governor Gavin Newsom warned that the state will be “very aggressive in making sure those with the means, those with influence, do not displace those who most deserve vaccines.”
“For those who think they can get ahead of the line, and those who think because they have resources or because they have relationships that will allow them to do so. We will be monitoring that very, very, closely,” Newsom said this month. .
“We will prioritize, and hope that everyone in the healthcare delivery system will hold to the same ethical standard of truly prioritizing those who need it most. And the real heroes in this pandemic are frontline healthcare workers, and those are the people we must protect and we must prioritize progress. “
