LA's super-wealthy are offering clinics $25,000 for priority access to coronavirus vaccines, doctors say

• Los Angeles' well-heeled are offering doctors as much as $25,000 for priority access to coronavirus vaccines, The Los Angeles Times reported.
• The US approved a vaccine from Pfizer on December 11, with the CDC and the California Department of Public Health saying healthcare personnel and care home residents come first.
• But wealthy Californians are offering large sums to skip the queue regardless.
• "People are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars," Dr.Jeff Toll, who works with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said.
• Dr. Ehsan Ali, the head of Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor, said: "We get hundreds of calls every single day"

Los Angeles' super-rich are offering medical clinics as much as $25,000 for priority access to coronavirus vaccines, the Los Angeles Times reported.

On December 11, a drug created by Pfizer and BioNTech became the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive emergency authorization for use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.

And in the last fortnight, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health have both said that healthcare personnel and care home residents should be first in line.

But that hasn't deterred those with ample financial means from trying to secure inoculations for themselves with big-cash offers.

"We get hundreds of calls every single day," Dr. Ehsan Ali, the head of Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor, told the Times. "This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients."

Another LA-based doctor, Dr.Jeff Toll, who works with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told the Times a patient asked him: "If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?'"

"People are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars," he said, with the Times saying Toll declined the proposition.

California Governor Gavin Newsom had warned that those who try to skip the queue would be outed.

"Those that think they can get ahead of the line and those that think because they have resources or they have relationships that will allow them to do it ... we also will be monitoring that very, very closely," Newsom said.

The demand has put private healthcare providers in a tricky situation, with clients paying high sums for expert care expecting an equally high level of attention. Still, doctors are ethically obligated to put the needy first.

"We're governed by the Hippocratic oath, the responsibility to provide care for the people who need it most," Dr. Abe Malkin, the founder of Concierge MD LA, told the Times.

"But at the same time, there's obviously going to be gray areas based on individual patients' needs."

It is not just individuals who are trying to jump the queue.

The ride-hailing giant Uber has asked federal and Californian health authorities to recognize their drivers as essential workers as they "have been a lifeline to their communities."

Uber says this means that their drivers should get access to the vaccine sooner.

A common concern circulating during the development of vaccines was that wealthy countries would scoop-up the majority of stock, leaving poorer countries out of pocket.

It has come to pass, with even Canada, a prosperous nation, saying this week that it is struggling to secure enough doses, meaning they can't roll out drives like the UK and US.

The People's Vaccine Alliance has criticized richer countries for reserving more doses than their populations need.

The UK became the first country to approve the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech in early December. Pfizer said private stakeholders would not be allowed to jump the queue.

"I can say clearly and confidently that there are no plans to supply the private sector for the foreseeable future - no chance at all," Ben Osborn, Pfizer's UK manager, told the Financial Times.