Money Can't Buy Everything: Wealthy Offer Cash For First Vaccines

ACROSS AMERICA — Can money buy everything? During a deadly, worldwide pandemic, the answer is simple: no. Still, that hasn't stopped wealthy Californians from trying.

Earlier this week, California's long-awaited COVID-19 rollout brought some 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to the state, many of which were immediately administered to front-line health workers.

Yet some of the Golden State's most affluent residents, like CEOs and celebrities, are offering up a hefty chunk of change to skip the line.

At least one person has offered $25,000 to receive the vaccine first, according to Dr. Jeff Toll, whose private medical practice has admittance privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Toll recently told several news outlets that despite the request, he told his client they too would have to wait in line.

Toll's practice isn't the only office receiving such bloated offers.

The phone over at Concierge MD in Beverly Hills has reportedly been ringing off the proverbial hook lately, with hundreds of callers offering up large swelling sums for an early dose.

"They wanted it yesterday," Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD, told CNN. "We will play by the rules but are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when it's available to us."

READ MORE: Wealthy Californians Bid To Cut Coronavirus Vaccine Lines

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The Latest

Voting could occur among legislators on the next coronavirus economic relief bill as early as Sunday night.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Sunday that there were a few "issues outstanding," but barring any further mishaps lawmakers in the Senate and House could vote on the bill soon, NBC News reporter Frank Thorp V said on Twitter.

A deal could come "within hours," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday, according to Nathaniel Reed, another NBC News reporter.

Tensions elevated a day earlier following the last-minute push by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, putting both sides of the aisle at odds once again. Toomey's demand calls for limiting the authority of the Federal Reserve to restart emergency lending programs for localities and small businesses, the Washington Post reported.

McConnell reportedly told Senate Republicans on a private call Saturday afternoon that the party should stick by Toomey's plan.

Democrats, however, are calling Toomey's proposal a glaring political attempt to limit the economic tools available to the Biden administration.

READ MORE: Coronavirus Stimulus Deal Hits Snag Over Fed Lending Powers

Congress pushed off a decision on the relief package Friday by passing a two-day stop-gap funding bill, averting a government shutdown and buying itself two more days to negotiate final terms of the $900 billion aid measure.

Congress originally had until midnight Friday to approve the bill and avoid a government shutdown.

If approved, the proposed aid could deliver additional "paycheck protection" subsidies to businesses, an additional $300 per week to the unemployed, and stimulus payments to most Americans, likely in the amount of $600.

As Congress works on long-awaited financial relief, the Moderna vaccine began rolling out from the pharmaceutical company's Memphis-area plant.

Later Sunday, an expert committee will debate who should be next in line for early doses of the Moderna vaccine and a similar one from Pfizer Inc. and Germany's BioNTech, according to a report from The Associated Press. Pfizer's shots were first shipped out a week ago and started being used the next day, kicking off the nation's biggest vaccination drive.

Moderna shots could be administered as early as Monday, the AP reported.

Gen. Gustave Perna, who oversees Operation Warp Speed and the federal effort to distribute vaccines, said the government is preparing to ship almost 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to more than 3,000 locations next week.

Pern also issued a public apology on Saturday for a "miscommunication" with states over the number of Pfizer vaccine doses to be delivered to states during the first phases of distribution.

Perna's remarks came a day after U.S. governors in more than a dozen states claimed the federal government told them that next week's shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected.

"I want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication," he said. "I know that's not done much these days. But I am responsible. ... This is a Herculean effort and we are not perfect."

As the United States works to move the second vaccine, the nation's most populous state has turned into the new epicenter of the crisis in the United States.

In California, only 3 percent of ICU beds were available as of Thursday. In the 11-county Southern California region, no ICU beds were open, and in the San Joaquin Valley, just 0.7 percent were available.

Los Angeles County, the nation's largest, was perilously close to zero capacity.

California reported an astonishing 48,000 new cases on Friday. In other parts of the country, Texas, Florida, New York and Tennessee all recorded more than 10,400 new cases each.

Over the past two weeks, the seven-day rolling average for new cases in the United States has increased by nearly 20 percent.

Newest Numbers

At least 2,606 new coronavirus deaths and 203,310 new daily cases were reported in the United States on Saturday, according to a Washington Post database. Over the past seven days, the United States has averaged more than 219,300 cases each day.

As of Sunday, 48 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days. Currently, only Hawaii, Vermont and Washington, D.C. are under that threshold.

More than 17.7 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Sunday afternoon, and more than 316,900 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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