West Palm Beach, Fla.-based MorseLife Nursing Home Health System agreed to pay $1.75 million June 30 to settle claims that they vaccinated hundreds of ineligible people for COVID-19 at a clinic as part of the CDC's Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.
Vaccinations were scheduled for residents and staff of the Joseph L. Morse Health Center, a skilled nursing facility, on Dec. 31, 2020. The system allegedly characterized board members as "staff," invited donors and potential donors to the vaccination clinic and allowed the vice chair of the board and his brother to invite nearly 300 ineligible individuals to be vaccinated, according to the Justice Department.
"This specific vaccination program was designed to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable individuals at a critical time when the COVID-19 pandemic was devastating that population," said Brian Boynton, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department's Civil Division. "The department will hold accountable those who misused vital pandemic relief programs for their own financial gain."