WA DOH Condemns 'Invitation Only' Vaccination Events For VIPs

SEATTLE — Three hospitals across the Puget Sound have been caught hosting private "invitation only" vaccination clinics, allowing board members and other VIPs to skip the queue for the vaccine. Now, the Washington State Department of Health says those hospitals are going to stop immediately, or risk having their vaccine supply cut off entirely.

The DOH posted a statement on the issue Saturday reading in part:

"The Washington State Department of Health stands with Governor Inslee in being dismayed at reports of such egregiously inappropriate behavior regarding “invitation-only” vaccine clinics. We do not condone this behavior, and we have never allowed it.

Since COVID-19 vaccine planning began, equity has been the primary focus of the state’s distribution effort, and to see such cavalier disregard for allocation strategy that prioritizes the most at-risk and disproportionately impacted populations is unacceptable.

Plainly said, this kind of practice is inequitable, wrong, and must stop immediately. Facilities or organizations found to engage in this practice risk not receiving additional shipments of vaccines."

The first hospital caught offering easier access to the vaccine for VIPs was Bellevue's Overlake Medical Center. Earlier this month, the hospital sent an email to roughly 4,000 people, welcoming them to attend an invite-only clinic. The list included more than 100 major donors. The news broke Tuesday to extreme backlash in Washington and across the country.

Overlake CEO J. Michael Marsh later issued a public apology.

Related: Overlake Responds To Controversy Over VIP Vaccine Email

Since then, the Seattle Times has confirmed at least two more Puget Sound-area hospitals have hosted similarly exclusive clinics: Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, who on Tuesday held a clinic exclusive to donors, board members and fundraising volunteers, and Kirkland's EvergreenHealth, which claimed to be testing their vaccine scheduling tool, but used that test to offer vaccine doses to board members.

Providence Regional Medical Center was not vaccinating the public at the time of their private clinic, and visitors to EvergreenHealth's website are currently greeted with a warning explaining that they are short on the vaccine and cannot schedule any further appointments.

Several state leaders have since spoken out to condemn the practice, including Gov. Jay Inslee — whose office also shut down online access to the Overlake clinic, according to the Times. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has gone one step further, calling on the DOH to reassess their entire vaccine distribution model to better prioritize those with the greatest needs.

"We have an obligation to ensure that our fight against the pandemic does not exacerbate inequities and instead centers those most impacted in our access to treatment, our economic assistance, and now in access to life-saving vaccines," said Durkan. "Unfortunately, the recent stories of preferential treatment by providers for financial donors, coupled with the struggles of communities to vaccinate their most vulnerable members, show even more starkly that these systems are failing communities of color. This is eroding trust in government at a time when public confidence is crucial for the health and recovery of our communities. Corrective action must be taken now."

The DOH has not announced any major restructuring plans, but did note in their statement Saturday that, going forward, larger portions of vaccine shipments would be headed to places like pharmacies and community centers instead of hospitals:

"Furthermore, vaccine allocation was always going to expand beyond hospitals to allow more community access in ways that are culturally responsive and accessible.

It made sense that, in the early weeks of vaccination, the majority of vaccine went to hospitals because we needed to reach the most at-risk workers in health care settings and protect our healthcare infrastructure.

Now, we are spreading limited vaccine among many more sites where people can get vaccinated, including pharmacies, community health centers, local public health, and mass vaccination sites."