Overlake Responds To Controversy Over VIP Vaccine Email

BELLEVUE, WA — Bellevue's Overlake Medical Center on Wednesday publicly addressed intense blowback from an e-mail the hospital system sent last week offering quick coronavirus vaccine appointments to a select group of people.

On Tuesday, the Seattle Times reported that Overlake offered quick placement for invite-only vaccine clinics to an e-mail list of about 4,000 people, including more than 100 major donors. The news sparked swift criticism locally and across the nation, including from Gov. Jay Inslee.

In a statement published Wednesday, Overlake CEO J. Michael Marsh said the hospital system made a mistake by not notifying the broader community of the opportunity.

His statement reads in part:

Recently, in an effort to notify people of additional, immediate-term vaccine appointments that had become available, we sent emails to approximately 4,000 members of the Overlake community, including volunteers, retired nurses and physicians, all employees and about 100 donors from our Foundation database. All communications made clear that people must show proof of eligibility under current Washington State requirements to ultimately be vaccinated, no matter who they are or how they are affiliated with us.

We recognize we made a mistake by including a subset of our donors and by not adopting a broader outreach strategy to fill these appointments, and we apologize. Our intent and commitment has always been to administer every vaccine made available to us safely, appropriately, and efficiently.

(Read the full statement on the Overlake Medical Center & Clinics website.)

The state continues to navigate vaccine supply issues, with approximately currently 1.7 million eligible, as shipments weekly average just 100,000 doses. On Tuesday, the governor announced a federal promise to boost Washington's weekly allotment by 16 percent over the next three weeks.

Learn more about vaccination in Washington on the state Department of Health website.