CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago officials are cutting off vaccine supply to a private clinic that had been contracted to vaccinate Chicago Public Schools employees, but reportedly allocated thousands of doses to people with no ties to the district.
On Tuesday, the Chicago Department of Public Health said Innovative Express Care “knowingly misallocated more than 6,000 doses of vaccine," including using vaccine set aside as second doses for CPS employees as first doses for non-CPS patients, instead.
"This is completely unacceptable behavior," CDPH said in a statement.
The Lincoln Park-based clinic said those vaccines were used for eligible essential workers and seniors; and finds the city's reaction "bewildering."
"The decision by CDPH officials today leaves us bewildered, saddened, and frankly disappointed in our local government," said Rahul Khare, owner of Innovative Express Care. "CDPH officials never made it clear to us as a provider that we should be storing vaccines in a refrigerator for people awaiting second doses. Rather, we have been following the nation’s commitment to get as many vaccines in eligible patients’ arms, as quickly as possible. Our mission involved vaccinating as many eligible patients as quickly as possible, and not at the whims of the city official’s latest political crisis."
Khare said Innovative Express Care operated four CPS vaccination sites. As of last week, every CPS staff member had been given an opportunity to be vaccinated, he said.
Additionally, Khare said in a statement that CPS officials stated that a significant amount of employees received vaccinations as of March 17.
"All vaccine doses that were not used by CPS at the end of each week went to another eligible patient for their first dose. We always ensured that there were enough allocations for additional doses for all CPS employees," Khare said. "We received vaccine allocations each week, and our intention has always been to have a 100 percent utilization rate in order that every single dose we received was put into the arm of a qualified patient that week. Clearly, we took this idealistic vision very seriously, which meant that doses intended for CPS employees actually went to seniors, frontline essential workers, and other qualified patients. We never departed from the commitment to CPS employees, nor other qualified individuals."
CDPH officials said however it was clear providers must stick to the guidelines, and Innovative Express Care did not.
"To be clear, Innovative Express Care has vaccinated eligible individuals in a phased approach as dictated by the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois since January...We have helped numerous community organizations by proactively scheduling eligible individuals who live in medically underserved Black and Brown communities....Effective vaccine distribution should be modeled, not penalized.
"We have served our community since the start of this pandemic, and we will continue to do so through testing. We are deeply disappointed in the city’s decision to remove us as a vaccine provider. Chicago needs more vaccination sites that are actually distributing their doses to eligible patients, not fewer," Khare concluded.
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Chicago Public Schools had a $5 million arrangement with Innovative Express Care to operate four vaccination centers dedicated to giving shots to teachers and other school workers.
The contract stated the “vendor shall only use COVID-19 vaccines provided by CDPH at the COVID-19 Vaccination Centers for individuals identified by CPS as eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines.”
CTU President Jesse Sharkey issued the following statement in response to a City of Chicago report that 6,000 vaccines meant for Chicago Public Schools teachers and staff were reallocated away from the district:
“After listening to the mayor and CPS leadership tell us that vaccinating teachers prior to returning to in-person instruction was impossible, then about how 'robust' their plan was, we now find out that 6,000 doses of the vaccine have been taken and given to others instead of educators and CPS workers — many of whom are some of the most medically vulnerable people working in our schools. A number of teachers and staff have had appointments scheduled for less than 24 hours from now cancelled. It’s a failure, on multiple levels, from the people who run our school district.
"CPS and the mayor have been cancelling leaves because they believed vaccinations were offered to our members, and launched a smear campaign accusing them of non-compliance in receiving and reporting doses. But this, plus Loretto Hospital, makes two scandals in a matter of days. Before CPS cancels anyone's leave, they may want to run an audit on who is doing what with vaccine doses meant for the workers in our schools. And the Chicago City Council should be calling for hearings into how the city is partnering with organizations to administer this potentially life-saving medication."
CDPH said they have already identified new providers to take over and administer vaccine for those scheduled to receive a dose through Innovative Express Care.
Additionally, CPS personnel with appointments on Wednesday, March 24 will be rescheduled for the near future and notifications are in progress. CPS personnel with existing appointments on Thursday, March 25 and thereafter will continue to be vaccinated at the same CPS high school site where they were originally scheduled.
CDPH officials said Innovative Express Care will not be doing any more first dose vaccinations, and people can visit Zocdoc to find available appointments. Anyone scheduled for a second dose appointment though the Innovative Express clinic will be vaccinated at a special clinic set up for them at Truman College. Those individuals are being contacted and provided with next steps for scheduling their appointment.
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The latest allegations of misused vaccines come after controversy surrounding the executives at Loretto Hospital, who were also cut off by the city for giving shots to ineligible workers at Trump Tower, Cook County judges, and workers at the chief operating officer's favorite Gold Coast jewelry store.
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New numbers suggest about 20 percent of Chicagoans have received at least one vaccine dose.