The Covid-19 pandemic has taken over our country for just shy of a year. It is not a surprise to hear that life isn't normal, and most say that as a result of the pandemic we will adopt a "new normal". Our old ways of carefree public gatherings and supermarket trips may never return, at least if not for the constant variable that has ended epidemics throughout history. Vaccines. A COVID vaccine was approved in December, starting a whole new war over distribution. The elderly, medical workers, and the high-risk population were understandably prioritized. This week, all details on a story of Doctor Gokal in Houston was released. Once ordered, the COVID vaccine has a relatively short shelf-life, and as a medical professional that is qualified to give vaccines to patients he was faced with a tough situation. 10 COVID-19 vaccines that had already been opened were going to expire in six hours. These would be thrown away as no patients were scheduled to receive them. Without hesitating, he followed his instinct and made house calls to find high-risk patients to give them to at his home, friends and strangers alike. These included an 80-year-old woman with dementia and a mother of a child who uses a ventilator. The 10th and final receiver was his wife, who suffers from a pulmonary disorder labeling her as high risk. The man was fired from his job and charged with the crime of stealing $135 worth of vaccines. He had filled out paperwork for all 10 administered, and when asked if he had distributed doses outside of his responsibilities he was promptly fired. His charges were dropped in court, but it sure is quite the moral dilemma. My take is he did not do anything wrong. Throwing away vaccines instead of seeking out 10 people that need them makes no sense! I see his actions as heroic, while lots of media outlets and social media figures suggest the opposite. What do you think? 1: Was his decision lawful? and 2: Was his decision ethical?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/us/houston-doctor-fired-covid-vaccine.html
Hi Zev, I find this blog post to be really interesting! Based on your account of what happened, I agree with you. I think what the doctor did was ethical by giving the unused vaccines to people in need and was smarter than just throwing those vaccines away. Technically, I'm not sure if this would be lawful, but I personally don't see a problem with it either. I'm interested to find out if there are more sides to this story about what happened because I'm curious as to why so many media outlets/figures think what Doctor Gokal did was bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this doctor was heroic because he vaccinated 10 people with vaccines that would have otherwise been thrown out and gone to waste. Although it is unlawful for this in Texas, it definitely should be made lawful to give expiring vaccines out if there is no one else there to receive the vaccine.
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