New York. New York authorities announced Monday that they will impose fines of up to $ 1 million and the withdrawal of licenses from doctors or clinics that commit fraud. Covid-19 vaccines, For example managing people who do not have priority.
“We will not tolerate any fraud in the vaccination process,” State Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a news conference that the measure seeks to “send a very clear signal to suppliers that if they violate the law.” about these vaccinations, we will find them and pursue them. “
Cuomo’s announcement comes after New York authorities reported this weekend that they are investigating the Parcare network of clinics for allegedly fraudulently obtaining doses of vaccines and ignoring guidelines on who should receive them.
Parcare, which has centers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and on the outskirts of the Big Apple and serves mostly ultra-Orthodox Jewish patients, announced via Twitter on December 16, the day after vaccinations in the United States began. United, which would have limited doses of the product and would make them available to customers who met certain criteria in order of application.
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He then shared a photograph – which was later deleted – of a rabbi being vaccinated.
According to The New York Times, Parcare has confirmed that the man received a vaccine, but says he did so because he works daily at the clinic.
However, New York authorities point out that the company obtained vaccines under false pretenses and put them on people who are not on the priority list, led by front-line health workers and residents and employees of residential facilities. seniors.
The governor confirmed on Monday that the state police is studying the case and will transfer it to the office of Attorney General Letitia James, who will make it a priority.
New York, like the rest of the United States, kicked off the vaccination campaign on December 14 with a focus on health care workers and nursing home workers and caregivers. to people with disabilities.
When Governor Andrew Cuomo announced vaccine distribution plans in early December he already warned that at an early stage the general public would be left out of the immunization campaign.
According to data from Monday, at least 140,000 New Yorkers have already received the first dose of the vaccine and the state expects to receive another 259,000 doses this week, so it can begin to expand the groups that receive it.
On the other hand, Cuomo announced a sharp increase over the last day in the percentage of positive Covid-19 tests, which has been above 8% when on Friday it was around 5%.
The governor, in any case, has assured that the data can be misleading, since in the last days – coinciding with the Christmas holidays – much less tests have been done.
The number of hospitalizations, however, continues to grow and stands at 7,559 in the state as a whole, where 114 people died on the last day from Covid-19.
fbpt / ml