Dear Reader:
The name ParCare is flying through the news media and blogosphere like wildfire. There are dozens of links, each regurgitating much the same story – that ParCare either fraudulently obtained and distributed Covid-19 vaccines or that ParCare legitimately obtained the Covid-19 vaccine but fraudulently distributed it to places for which they were not licensed to distribute and to people to whom they were not permitted to administer it. There are also variations in between. Sadly, however those two versions of the same story cannot co-exist.
Did ParCare obtain the vaccine legally or did they not? Simple question. One would think there is a simple answer; but no one is really demanding the answers from the State of New York, which has historically lacked oversight in all areas of healthcare and medicine. ParCare is allegedly cooperating with the investigation and has returned unused vials of the Moderna vaccine.
The most irking question is why is the very community that has flaunted unabashedly an aversion to the laws, even to the braggadocios conclusion that the group is not comprised of Americans and therefore not going to follow US laws, were some of the first to be granted access to a vaccine. Okay. If you are not going to follow the law then why should you be afforded the benefits that the law allows? How can a community so openly unwilling to cooperate and to do what’s right for the preservation of human life be granted first rights to healthcare and vaccinations supplied by the very same laws they refuse to follow? This is not about religion, it is about the sanctity of human life and a group unwilling respect it.
There is something very wrong there. Political clout, campaign donations, a strong voting bloc should simply not be that which controls access to vital healthcare, including but not limited to vaccines. In fact, why are those who refused to follow the laws not placed at the very tail end of those entitled to vaccinations and healthcare? The rest of us have spent the last 10 months largely at home, getting food delivered and wearing masks.
Interestingly, the Orthodox run and Yiddish speaking newspapers are not mentioning the allegations against ParCare at all. Crickets. They are totally ignoring the subject or the allegations. Seems a bit odd given the magnitude of claims. Well, it might be worth pondering that perhaps ParCare did acquire the vaccine legally (albeit through channels that are extremely unsettling) and did distribute according to the guidelines they were given, either formally or informally (which seem to contradict New York State’s guidelines). The governing bodies of the State of New York have been derelict in their duties to protect the mere mortals residing here and this entire episode, the very possibility that there could have been a vaccine related fraud, is a shining example of New York’s failures.
The WhatsApp threads have been awash with conspiracy theories, the most prominent of which is that this entire story is a “hit job.” According to that theory, a complaint was issued on Friday, December 25th to the powers that be at the State level intended to impugn ParCare and its officers. That, too, seems a bit much. Again, this presupposes that by impugning ParCare another of the many smaller healthcare organizations would be given first right to come in and save-the-day.
But, how did ParCare obtain the vaccine in the first instance? They readily advertised obtaining it on the 21st of December? To whom were they officially authorized to distribute the vaccine, if anyone? To whom were they unofficially authorized to distribute the vaccine, if anyone? What guidelines were they supposed to follow and who provided those mandates? This New York debauchery did not happen in a vacuum.
Someone at the State level was presumably responsible for supplying the 3500 vials of vaccine to ParCare and someone at the State level, one can safely assume, decided to initiate an investigation. Should the state agencies not perhaps be investigating themselves and the broken chain of command?
It is highly unlikely that ParCare advertised something that had been fraudulently obtained. That would have been a fool’s folly. But the moral of the story is that New York has no oversight in the medical arena, not where medical care and insurance is concerned and not in the Covid-19 arena where vaccines and personal protective equipment are concerned. The chain of command is broken and ParCare is likely not alone in taking advantage of loopholes.
The question that should be the focus is how did the State of New York allow this to happen? How did a box of 3500 vials of Moderna’s vaccine get distributed to any organization unauthorized to administer it? If that’s not what happened, why backtrack now? These vaccines are supposed to be highly regulated. They are supposed to be administered and monitored. Could New York really have gotten it so outrageously wrong? Or did they get it right, realize their error and need a way out? And if this was some sort of administrative error are we really sure that the handling of vaccines is being correctly facilitated? For those of us already leaning towards not trusting the integrity of the vaccines, a break in the distribution channel does not help alleviate those concerns.
However the dust settles, this entire story speaks to New York corruption, the power of political influence and the impact of connections and finances. We endorse the small medical organizations that are set up in areas that are underserved. We frequent outpatient health services that keep us out of hospital emergency rooms, which have closed in record numbers and are currently overcrowded and expensive leaving too many out in the proverbial cold. That said, we have written endlessly about the lack of medical and healthcare related oversight and this story is yet another shattering example of an utter failure on the State and on the Federal level.
In our opinion, the fault lies not with ParCare and others like it but with the system in New York that can allow a vaccine to get distributed absent oversight. The true condemnation should be directed toward a system that allows those with money and political clout to obtain the best money and connections have to offer while the rest of us struggle to find our way.
READING ON THE ABOVE SUBJECT:
The first potential COVID-19 vaccine scandal
PARCARE: HEALTH CARE OPTIONS FOR UNDERSERVED WILLIAMSBURG |
https://abc7ny.com/parcare-vaccine-fraud-attorney-general-ny-covid/9143911/
https://nypost.com/2020/12/28/brooklyn-firm-in-covid-19-vaccine-probe-has-money-issues/
Did These New York Clinics Ignore Rules on Who Gets Vaccinated First?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/27/us/parcare-ny-covid-vaccine/index.html
State Accuses Brooklyn-Based Health Network Of Fraudulently Securing COVID Vaccine
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-20201226-eg3fuoc5mzex5ofqvnalslvape-story.html
LOSTMESSIAH 
This morning (Wednesday), I did a search for stories on ParCare in the NY Times, but could not find anything. I guess the story hit too close to home and the paper decided not to cover it or maybe the paper’s search engine is not very good. But the story was covered by Bloomberg, Fox News and many other news outlets.
What happens when the new covid-19 variant hits Brooklyn or other Haredi areas? The US could be in for a rough winter now that massive religious gatherings are allowed under the recent Supreme Court ruling. The number of people getting the vaccine is running way below prior estimates and my own HMO has no idea when seniors living in their own homes will be able to get theirs.
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I think the NYT did not cover the story because they knew what I suggest and that is that this entire story is intended as a hit job to take the attention away from the inadequacy of the supply chain in New York. Just today, NY put together legislation or direction that states that a contract must be signed by a vaccinating entity. That is new and is illustrative of the very fact that NY really screwed this one up.
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Of course there will be severe consequences. wink wink
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