Hospital apologizes for giving donors early access to COVID vaccines in Washington

A Washington hospital apologized for prioritizing donors to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington, sent an email to more than 100 donors, telling them vaccine slots were available and providing an “access code” to register for appointments, The Seattle Times reported.

“We’re pleased to share that we have 500 new open appointments in the Overlake COVID-19 vaccine clinic,” the email from Overlake Medical Center said, according to The Seattle Times.

The email, which appeared to be favoring people who had donated to the hospital, sparked backlash.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said at a Tuesday news conference that it “is not acceptable” if the hospital was truly giving them priority.

“If in fact they were giving preference to some VIP list, that’s not the way to do it,” Inslee said at the news conference. “That is not acceptable for us. We need to give everybody a fair shot.”

In Washington, the vaccine is available to people 65 and older — and people 50 and older who live in a multigenerational household, according to the state’s Department of Health. Health care workers, first responders and people who live or work in long-term care facilities are also eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine in the state.

Overlake Medical Center CEO J. Michael Marsh said in a statement Wednesday that the hospital sent emails to about 4,000 people, “including volunteers, retired nurses and physicians, all employees and about 100 donors from our Foundation database.”

He said that all people would’ve needed to show proof that they were eligible under the state’s guideline to receive the vaccine.

“We recognize we made a mistake by including a subset of our donors and by not adopting a broader outreach strategy to fill these appointments, and we apologize,” Marsh wrote. “Our intent and commitment has always been to administer every vaccine made available to us safely, appropriately, and efficiently.”

About 86,269 people have been fully vaccinated and received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Washington, according to state data.

There are currently two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. by the FDA. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were authorized for use in December after undergoing clinical trials.

This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Hospital apologizes for giving donors early access to COVID vaccines in Washington."