A second western Washington hospital system is under fire for offering the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible donors, before extending the offer to community members in need.
Providence Northwest Washington, based in Everett, shared a statement Friday acknowledging it contacted "hospital volunteers, volunteer board members, and members of the community who have donated to our charitable foundation in the past" to receive the vaccine if they were eligible under Phase 1A or 1B of the state's distribution plan.
The Everett Herald reports 245 people who were contacted by Providence and received the vaccine on Monday were all eligible under Phase 1B.
Providence is now reevaluating its distribution method, saying in part, "This was not in line with our organization’s standard practice, and going forward, we are evaluating our processes and engaging ethics and compliance leaders to ensure that our effort to comply with the state’s directions to vaccinate people as quickly as possible does not raise concerns about fairness or equity." See the full statement below.
The office of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee "strongly condemned" the practice. Inslee's office told KING 5, "The governor and our staff have spoken to the hospitals and told them in no uncertain terms that is unacceptable and needs to stop. Their actions are unfair, wrong and undermine confidence in the public health delivery system."
On Monday, Inslee had harsh words for Bellevue's Overlake Medical Center, who also apologized for how it handled its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, by prioritizing eligible donors and "by not adopting a broader outreach strategy."
Overlake emailed nearly 4,000 people associated with the hospital to receive the vaccine on short-notice if they were eligible. It's unclear if any doses were administered to those on Overlake's contact list.
RELATED: Bellevue's Overlake Medical Center apologizes for prioritizing eligible donors for COVID-19 vaccine
“It’s not acceptable for us," Inslee said. "We need to get everybody a fair shot at the vaccine. If that’s what was happening, it simply wasn’t acceptable. We need fairness from the system and we have to maintain public credibility in the system.”
When asked if medical facilities will face consequences for prioritizing donors, Inslee's office said Friday, "There have been some preliminary conversations about what consequences there might be for facilities engaging in these activities, or at least if they continue to engage in these activities. No decisions have been made."
RELATED: Inslee questions fairness of COVID-19 vaccine distribution at Bellevue's Overlake Medical Center
See the full statement from Providence below:
"Last week the Department of Health announced that Washington state was moving forward in offering vaccines to those eligible under Phase 1B, Tier 1, allowing all individuals 65 years of age and older, or greater than age 50 and living in a multi-generational household, as well as all health care workers, to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Governor also issued an order for hospitals to use vaccine as fast as possible. Since we were given a very limited supply of vaccine, and also told to administer it as quickly as possible, we reached out to members of the community we had contact information for, which included our hospital volunteers, volunteer board members, and members of the community who have donated to our charitable foundation in the past, to offer the vaccine to those that met the state’s eligibility criteria under Phase 1A and 1B Tier 1.
Many of these individuals also play an important role at the hospital. The sooner we get them vaccinated the sooner they can continue their work in our facilities.We have only administered vaccine to those who have attested that they qualify under Phase 1A and Phase 1B Tier 1.
However, in retrospect we understand that in our haste to vaccinate people quickly – including certain members of our hospital community – we created the impression that some people are able to use their access to unfairly get a vaccination appointment.
This was not in line with our organization’s standard practice, and going forward, we are evaluating our processes and engaging ethics and compliance leaders to ensure that our effort to comply with the state’s directions to vaccinate people as quickly as possible does not raise concerns about fairness or equity.
Providence’s Northwest Washington service area has administered approximately 10,200 doses to qualifying people. We know that getting vaccine into arms is the best way to turn the tide on this pandemic, and we are committed to doing all we can to provide vaccinations as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Providence’s vaccination campaign includes reaching out to vulnerable and underserved populations to increase awareness of the importance of being vaccinated and to understand the resources available to them.
We are grateful for our partnership with the state and private partners that has allowed us to be a part of this incredible vaccination effort so far."
