When swine flu vaccine was most scarce, local health officials gave thousands of doses to corporate clinics at Walt Disney World, Toyota, defense contractors, oil companies and cruise lines, according to a USA TODAY review of vaccine distribution data from three states.
USA TODAY examined how state health departments distributed the H1N1 vaccine after public outcry last month over Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs being sent doses while doctors and hospitals encountered shortages. The data show other companies got the vaccine in October and early November. In some cases, doses went to people not deemed most at risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Now we have evidence of what my suspicions were," said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of a House health subcommittee. "I'm afraid when you have these corporate initiatives, it's not primarily needs-based." Pallone said he would send the CDC a letter today asking it to revise guidelines to states on the use of corporate health clinics.
States can decide how to get the vaccine to at-risk people, and employers are a legitimate venue, said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's immunization director. CDC's priority groups include pregnant women, health workers and people ages 6 months to 24 years. "This is much less about what you do for a living and much more about how do you get the vaccine" to at-risk people, she said.
The Toyota Family Health Center in San Antonio, which got 2,120 doses, first focused on priority groups, but since Nov. 16 has vaccinated any employee, contractor or family member, spokesman Craig Mullenbach said.
Norwegian Cruise Line in Miami used 300 doses for medical staff, youth counselors and "key officers responsible for the safe operation of the vessel," spokeswoman AnneMarie Mathews said. She would not say how they fit into CDC priority groups.
Of the 2.42 million doses in Texas and 2 million in Florida distributed through mid-November, fewer than 1% went to employers, USA TODAY's analysis of data obtained under open-records acts found. Thousands of registered providers -- doctors, hospitals, schools -- in Texas alone got no doses in that period.
California, New York and New York City are still deciding whether to release data to USA TODAY.
Corporate clout played no role, health officials said. "We're not playing favorites with Disney," said Dain Weister of the Orange County (Fla.) Health Department. The Texas health department's Carrie Williams said staff are doing their best "to fairly distribute the vaccine to a wide variety of providers."
Said Melanie Sloan of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: "Everything is on the honor system."
Contributing: Paul Overberg
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