3 Bay Area counties halt COVID vaccine supply to One Medical, saying it let people cut the line - San Francisco Chronicle

Three Bay Area counties have suspended coronavirus vaccine supplies to a San Francisco-based health care provider whose procedures allowed ineligible individuals to cut the line, local officials say.

The company, One Medical, is no longer receiving vaccines from San Francisco, San Mateo or Alameda counties, and San Francisco health officials said Wednesday they have directed One Medical to return more than 1,600 doses.

But this month, officials at San Francisco’s health department asked One Medical to provide information on how it was administering COVID-19 vaccines after fielding complaints that ineligible San Franciscans were getting vaccinated.

In early February, San Mateo County’s public health department received complaints originating from two school districts alleging that One Medical was vaccinating teachers not yet eligible based on local and state criteria, according to Rebecca Archer, chief deputy county counsel for San Mateo’s Office of the County Counsel.

After investigating the allegations, the county’s public health department found One Medical had vaccinated 70 ineligible individuals, and terminated its contract with the company on Feb.

Alameda County allocated 975 doses to One Medical in late January “so they could vaccinate the Phase 1A health care workers who were their members,” according to Neetu Balram, a spokesperson for Alameda County’s Health Department.

The county stopped allocating doses to One Medical, she said, after the company “indicated that they planned to vaccinate more than their health care workers” — the only approved group prioritized for vaccinations at the time aside from long-term care residents — next.

To speed up distribution, local health departments — typically at the county level — can set up contracts with health care providers like One Medical and local hospitals.

One Medical set up contracts with multiple Bay Area counties, as it was among the first health care providers in the state with the infrastructure to administer vaccines, according to a spokesperson from San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.