Muskegon Sun

Three hospital systems in Michigan have seen people who are not in the priority group get vaccinated against COVID-19 over the past few weeks -- and they’re taking action.

Hillsdale Hospital allegedly gave unused COVID-19 vaccines to Hillsdale College faculty and staff. The hospital said that it had received double the vaccines ordered for its staff members. Instead of stockpiling them or letting them go to waste, the hospital shared the vaccines with the college and with long-term care facilities that had not yet received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“When we had remaining vaccines, we had two choices: leave them in a freezer until the state moved tiers or come up with a plan to use them as quickly as possible,” hospital president and CEO J.J. Hodshire said, according to Bridge Michigan.

But the hospital isn't the only organization to come under fire. Sparrow Hospital in Lansing has been criticized for running a limited clinic that allowed Lansing’s mayor, Andy Schor, to be vaccinated, as well as city employees, before the general public, including those in the priority group. 

Community partners -- like the city of Lansing, a food bank and school districts, among others -- received an invitation for any staff member to come to small vaccine clinic if they were part of the 18 priority groups, including teachers, police and firefighters, said John Foren, Sparrow spokesman. He said the hospital put the responsibility on the partner groups to ensure that only individuals in the priority group were eligible.  He also said that lab staff is too busy with paperwork and vaccinations to cast a critical eye and serve as “vaccination police.”

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has issued statements in regard to multiple instances where individuals outside of the state’s priority group have received the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We do not want providers to waste vaccine and would rather they provide vaccine to someone outside of the prioritization groups as opposed to throwing it out, if it comes down to it,” MDHHS said, according to Bridge Michigan. “No shot in the arm is ever wasted, as getting this vaccine is our way out of the pandemic and returning to some sense of normalcy.”

When Beaumont Hospital noticed a surge of individuals signing up to get a COVID-19 vaccination and found that many were under the age of 65, the organization shut down the portal and cancelled 2,700 appointments.

Beaumont, the state's largest health system, had sent randomized invitations to people with online Beaumont accounts to sign up for vaccinations. About half of the 2,700 individuals whose appointments were cancelled were under the age of 65 and not part of Michigan’s current priority group, according to Hans Keil, the senior vice president and chief information officer for Beaumont Hospital.

“But we took the stance that it wasn't fair to be cutting in line no matter if you're qualified or not,” Keil told Bridge Michigan. “We're really trying to be careful and have an ethical framework in that regard.”