Report: New York Gives Wall Street Banks Swine Flu Vaccine Despite Shortage

I can’t believe that the senior executives at Citibank would be turned away at their clinic — high risk or not. Regardless, there’s no reason the employees of these companies shouldn’t have to go through the same process as everybody else. I keep wondering how our New York State government could get any more dysfunctional, but they seem to keep finding new ways.

Obama medicine hard at work.

Alison, your kid can’t get the shot because ya’ll are not worth as much as these corrupt banks. Look in to what is going on with these guys. Half of the people in office were the ones that changed the laws that allow them to rob average investors blind. Now they are playing a part in keeping our health at stake.

Somebody on the state or local level REALLY blew this one. It’s ridiculous. NO company should get it until the top of the list is covered.

ABC’s story was slanted to stir misplaced outrage up even using the word “patients” to describe people who go to their doctor for flu shots verses employees who get the shot at work even though both are just as likely to be high risk – under 24, pregnant, underlying conditions. ABC and viewers should read the unbiased fact check from Business Week magazine (below) . The truth is the employer run flu shots are able to alleviate the work load on the public health clinics in distributing the shots to the public. The more sites that offer the shots, the smaller the lines at the public health centers and the faster the shots will be distributed which will lessen the flu’s impact on the public.
Here’s the facts from Business Week article this week:
NYC Officials: Distributions Are Normal
There is as yet no evidence to suggest that Goldman Sachs, Citi, JPMorgan, or any other firm that received doses of the vaccine will use it to vaccinate anyone other than people who qualify as high-risk: pregnant women, children and young people age 6 months to 24 years, people who live with or provide care for infants under 6 months (who cannot be vaccinated), people age 24 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for flu-related complications, and health-care workers and emergency medical personnel. In fact, employers and others have to sign a waiver saying so before they can receive the doses.
City officials, who are responsible for placing orders of the vaccine with the CDC, have stressed that distributions to workplaces are in line with normal procedures, part of a deliberate attempt to mitigate illness in as widespread a manner as possible.
The banking outfits tried to raise that point on Thursday, Nov. 5. “It is important to understand that the [New York City] Department of Health decides in its sole discretion who receives H1N1 vaccines—both the amount and timing,” said Goldman in an e-mail statement. “Goldman Sachs, like other responsible employers, has requested vaccine and will supply it only to employees who qualify based on the requirements laid down by the CDC and Department of Health.”
In an e-mailed statement, Citi said: “Citi, like many other large New York City employers, has for many years partnered with the New York City Department of Health to act as a distribution site for flu vaccines through the company’s existing health clinics. As such, Citi is participating in the DOH’s distribution system for delivering the H1N1 vaccine throughout New York City. The H1N1 vaccine is being provided through our clinics only to employees in high-risk categories as defined by the CDC.”

Many companies hire outside health care companies to administer their flu shot programs, and I don’t see why “Wall Street firms” should be treated different than any other company. This is another example of telling only a small part of a story in order to generate hate & distrust of an industry.
If you want to tell a balanced story, please report how many doses ABC – and the other major news organizations – received. That would be “especially interesting.”
You’re better than this type of reporting, Charlie.