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CHICAGO – A clinic on the North Side has had its vaccine supply shut off by the city after officials claimed it misallocated more than 6,000 doses meant for CPS staff.

The Chicago Department of Health has ceased vaccine distribution to Innovative Express Care, which is running a COVID-19 testing and vaccine site in the 1100 block of West Diversey.

Following an investigation, officials said the clinic entered a contract to vaccinate CPS employees. The health department said they gave vaccines to non-CPS staff members and knowingly misallocated more than 6,000 doses.

They went on to say vaccines allocated for second doses were used for first dose appointments instead.

“This is completely unacceptable behavior. We have already identified new providers to take over and administer vaccine for those scheduled to receive a dose through Innovative Express Care,” officials said.

CPS personnel with appointments on Wednesday will be rescheduled for the near future and notifications are in progress. CPS personnel with existing appointments on Thursday and thereafter will continue to be vaccinated at the same CPS high school site where they were originally scheduled.

IEC will not be doing any more first dose vaccinations, and people can visit Zocdoc to find available appointments. Anyone scheduled for a second dose appointment though the Innovative Express clinic will be vaccinated at a special clinic set up for them at Truman College.

The city said those residents are being contacted and provided the next steps for scheduling their appointment.

In a statement released Tuesday night, Innovative Express Care said they strongly disagree with the city’s decision.

“All vaccine doses that were not used by CPS at the end of each week went to another eligible patient for their first dose. We always ensured that there were enough allocations for additional doses for all CPS employees,” part of their statement reads.

This is the second medical facility to have its vaccine supply cut off after Loretto Hospital leadership was caught giving vaccines to those who were ineligible.

Read Innovative Express Care’s full statement below.

We strongly disagree with the allegations made by the Chicago Department of Public Health stating a misallocation of vaccines intended for CPS staff. 

We proudly operated four CPS vaccination sites. As of last week, every CPS staff member had been given an opportunity to be vaccinated due to our capacity to effectively operate a vaccine distribution effort. CPS highlighted the news of an effective partnership during a CPS event last week that celebrated the vaccination distribution. In the official press release, CPS officials stated that a significant amount of CPS employees received vaccinations as of March 17, 2021. Innovative Express Care is proud to have vaccinated thousands of CPS employees at one of the four sites and many other CPS employees at our clinic.

All vaccine doses that were not used by CPS at the end of each week went to another eligible patient for their first dose. We always ensured that there were enough allocations for additional doses for all CPS employees. We received vaccine allocations each week, and our intention has always been to have a 100% utilization rate in order that every single dose we received was put into the arm of a qualified patient that week. Clearly, we took this idealistic vision very seriously, which meant that doses intended for CPS employees actually went to seniors, frontline essential workers, and other qualified patients. We never departed from the commitment to CPS employees, nor other qualified individuals.

The decision by CDPH officials today leaves us bewildered, saddened, and frankly disappointed in our local government. CDPH officials never made it clear to us as a provider that we should be storing vaccines in a refrigerator for people awaiting second doses. Rather, we have been following the nation’s commitment to get as many vaccines in eligible patients’ arms, as quickly as possible. Our mission involved vaccinating as many eligible patients as quickly as possible, and not at the whims of the city official’s latest political crisis. 

To be clear, Innovative Express Care has vaccinated eligible individuals in a phased approach as dictated by the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois since January. We have been learning with other health providers along the way, always adhering to medical ethics. We have helped numerous community organizations by proactively scheduling eligible individuals who live in medically underserved Black and Brown communities. Our past history as recorded in numerous media accounts and our patients’ own voices of appreciation on social media are evidence towards our positive impact. Effective vaccine distribution should be modeled, not penalized.

We have served our community since the start of this pandemic, and we will continue to do so through testing. We are deeply disappointed in the city’s decision to remove us as a vaccine provider. Chicago needs more vaccination sites that are actually distributing their doses to eligible patients, not fewer.