A California hospital is closing its COVID-19 vaccination clinic, weeks after county officials prohibited it from receiving more shots because it broke protocol, San Jose Spotlight reported Feb. 14.
Santa Clara County in January barred Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose from receiving COVID-19 vaccines beyond the second doses needed to complete vaccination of people who already received a first vaccine dose, after the hospital offered teachers and staff of a local school district shots ahead of higher-priority groups. The county is currently only offering vaccines to healthcare workers, long-term facility residents and residents age 65 and older. It is not yet offering them to educators.
Now the hospital is closing its vaccine clinic. All employees have been inoculated.
"Our focus has always been our healthcare workers getting vaccinated," Antonio Castelan, a spokesperson for Good Samaritan's parent company, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, told San Jose Spotlight. "We are now winding down our vaccination clinic since many of our employees already received their two doses."
The decision comes after the hospital submitted new screening measures to the county Jan. 28 to ensure compliance with shot protocol. In a separate San Jose Spotlight report, Good Samaritan said it canceled vaccination appointments for anyone not covered under the county's current vaccine distribution plan. It also said the hospital would screen more for patients who are eligible for inoculation; require patients to prove their eligibility via photo ID and occupation; and follow a contingency plan so that vaccines aren't wasted.
Mr. Castelan told Becker's that Santa Clara County is reviewing the plan the hospital submitted and is waiting for the county's decision on how the county will proceed with vaccine distribution.