Philadelphia Deputy health Commissioner Caroline Johnson, M.D., speaks at the opening of the community vaccine clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Philadelphia health official resigns after vaccine site shuttered
The city says Dr. Caroline Johnson communicated with at least two potential vendors about the city’s request for business partners to submit proposals.
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The Associated Press
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Philadelphia Deputy health Commissioner Caroline Johnson, M.D., speaks at the opening of the community vaccine clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
(Philadelphia) — Health officials in Philadelphia say the acting deputy health commissioner resigned after allegations that she inappropriately gave out information to potential vendors about the city’s efforts to arrange COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Dr. Caroline Johnson communicated with at least two potential vendors — Philly Fighting COVID and the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium — about the city’s request for business partners to submit proposals, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said in a statement. Those communications came after the call for submissions was made public, but the department says her actions were “inappropriate because the information shared was not available to all potential applicants.”
One of the vendors she communicated with, Philly Fighting COVID, was eventually chosen, but its downtown vaccination site was shuttered last week by the city amid concerns about the qualifications of the psychology graduate student behind the effort and the organization’s for-profit status.
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Officials said about 1200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine can be administered per day at Philadelphia’s community vaccination clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
City officials said they gave Andrei Doroshin the task because he and his friends had organized one of the community groups that set up COVID-19 testing sites last year. But they shut the vaccine operation down once they learned that Doroshin had switched his privacy notice to potentially sell patient data, a development he calls a glitch that he quickly fixed.
It wasn’t immediately clear when a new site operator will be found.
The matter involving Johnson has been referred to the city’s inspector general, the department said, adding that it “remains committed to responding to the pandemic and distributing vaccine as quickly and safely as possible.”
Johnson was appointed acting deputy health commissioner in July 2015 after having served for 11 years as the director of the division of disease control, according to her profile on the department’s site. A message seeking comment sent to Johnson’s department email was returned and a listed number for her couldn’t be found Sunday.
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