A health care network with clinics in Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg is under criminal investigation for administering unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Saturday.
ParCare Community Health Network “may have fraudulently obtained the COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines, and diverted it to members of the public,” he said. state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in a press release.
The statement came hours after The Post questioned a State Department of Health spokesman about ParCare giving the coveted inoculations.
The network’s actions appear to violate the state’s plan to first administer the limited supply of vaccines to front-line health workers, along with nursing home residents and staff, according to the statement.
Currently, there is not enough vaccine for groups that are supposed to get it first.
“Supply of COVID-19 vaccine remains limited and has not yet met demand among priority groups for initial vaccination,” Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of the city’s Department of Health for vaccinations, said Thursday. .
News site BoroPark24 reported on December 21 that ParCare claimed to have received 3,500 doses of the Modern vaccine.
“Hundreds of patients were already vaccinated today and people are still coming in,” Gary Schlesinger, CEO and president of ParCare, told the news site.
Schlesinger also said he expected to vaccinate 500 people in Boro Park that same day.
ParCare created a website, parcarevaccine.com, where residents could register for the vaccine.
“You have to be on this list,” Schlesinger told BoroPark24, adding that he expected to receive more vaccines each day. “Once you’re on the list, we need to do a vet to make sure you’re a health worker, you’re over 60, or you have underlying conditions. We won’t give the vaccine to people who don’t meet the requirements to get that first batch. shooting ”.
ParCare accepts Medicare, Medicaid and most other insurance plans, the company said.
Schlesinger is politically well connected to the Orthodox Jewish community. He has cultivated ties with Blasio Mayor, Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Brooklyn District President and Mayoral candidate Eric Adams, sources said.
A ParCare ad stated that “the FDA authorized” the network to receive “a minimum number of vaccines against COVID-19.”
“Vaccines will be available on a first-come, first-served basis (sic),” the announcement says.
He adds that vaccines will be given “Only for people in the following categories” and that it includes: “Elderly, high risk, underlying conditions.”
A community member told The Post that her father, 60, received the vaccine at ParCare’s Williamsburg Clinic.
“The community knows you can get a vaccine if you want,” said the resident, who added that “it’s a mystery” how the clinic got the supply.
“We take it very seriously and DOH will assist the state police in a criminal investigation into this matter. Anyone who has knowingly participated in this scheme will be held liable to the fullest extent of the law,” said the state health commissioner.
Schlesinger could not be reached for comment immediately.