Mistakes Made, No Laws Broken In Hospital Vaccine Rollout: RI AG

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island's two largest health care companies dropped the ball early in the coronavirus vaccine rollout process, the state's attorney general said Tuesday. Both Lifespan and Care New England offered vaccine doses to board members, which Peter Neronha called a significant error in judgement, considering they were intended for frontline health care providers.

Neronha's office made clear, however, that no laws or policies were broken, since the Rhode Island Department of Health did not provide specific guidance about who should be prioritized in that earliest phase of vaccine distribution.

The AG's office has been looking into the matter since January, when several members of the public reported that vaccines were offered to board members by Lifespan and Care New England at the time that the state's vaccine doses were incredibly limited. These doses were "intended for the use of frontline healthcare workers," Neronha explained.

"The purpose of that review was to determine what guidance the hospitals received from the Rhode Island Department of Health regarding the early phases of their vaccine rollout and whether they had complied with that guidance, the state law or regulations," Neronha said.

The final review was released Tuesday in a letter shared with the leaders of the two hospital groups.

According to the letter, the Rhode Island Department of Health "did not provide Lifespan or CNE with specific guidance regarding prioritization during the initial vaccination phase," Neronha said, adding that "because RIDOH gave Lifespan and CNE wide discretion in vaccinating their hospital staff, including vaccination prioritization, we cannot find that Lifespan or CNE violated any specific directives, policies or laws in connection with their decision to vaccinate board members."

However, Neronha continued, although the actions did not specifically break any policies or guidelines, "this Office strongly believes that Lifespan and CNE should have acted differently."

"By offering vaccinations to all of their board members, irrespective of any individualized criteria applicable to Rhode Islanders generally, at a time when Rhode Islanders were gravely concerned about their health and that of their loved ones, Lifespan and CNE erred, and significantly so," Neronha said. "This erosion of public confidence in the fairness of the process undermines broader willingness to follow the rules."

The attorney general went on to call the incident an "unfortunate episode [that] highlighted the consequences of straying too far from those public health principles that have guided vaccine distribution in Rhode Island: vaccinating those who are at greatest risk of spreading, contracting, and dying from COVID-19."

"As Rhode Island’s health care advocate, we hope that these principles continue to guide our vaccine distribution policies in the state," he concluded.