HOUSTON – Criminal charges were dropped against a Harris County Public Health doctor who was fired after being accused of stealing a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Hasan Gokal’s attorney said the vial was going to be thrown out, so Gokal gave it to his friends and family. A judge dropped the charges after saying the doctor had lawful access to the vaccine.
The bigger question is, what happens to leftover doses to make sure they’re safeguarded at the various vaccination sites?
Protocols and policies
KPRC 2 discovered the policies and protocols vary slightly between the different hospitals, counties and health districts that handle and administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
The one thing they all have in common: their systems are set up in such a way that they can account for each and every vial.
“We’ve got a policy to prevent waste, fraud, abuse ... obviously breaking rules and county processes,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
Harris County isn’t alone
To prevent anyone from improperly taking the vials from a vaccination site, Fort Bend County Health and Human Services said its vaccine supply follows the county’s usual accounting policies for medications that are dispensed.
“Accounting for medications is a process well known to clinical staff,” said Sally Sparks, Ft. Bend County Health and Human Services. “Our policies for accounting for our vaccine supply follow our usual policies for accounting for medications dispensed. During our off site vaccination clinics, we do not discard empty vials until we have reconciled the empty vials with the doses administered at the end of the day. If there are unused doses, we dispense those to any unvaccinated staff working or volunteering at the site. If there are not enough staff to receive the unused doses, we allow Fort Bend County clinical staff to sign out the doses in the dispensing log. They must record the date, time and number of doses.
“They receive a vaccine kit with all required documentation prior to leaving with identification of the location and number of persons to be vaccinated -- for instance, a small personal care home or homebound resident who has previously registered with Fort Bend County to receive homebound services. This work is reconciled the following morning prior to the beginning of the next clinic.”
Houston Methodist said no dose is ever wasted and that its planning begins a few hours before their vaccination sites close so they know how many doses are left.
“If we have doses that are left, we go to our list of patients ... in 1b or 1a and we contact them to come in for a vaccine. So far, this is working great,” said Patti Muck with Houston Methodist.