Heimishe Brooklyn clinics Cause Huge Chillul Hashem and face criminal probe over unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines

ParCare CEO Gary Schlesinger is pictured earlier this week receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

A health-care network with clinics in Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg is under a criminal investigation for giving unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Saturday.

ParCare Community Health Network “may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines and diverted it to members of the public,” state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said in a news release.

The statement came hours after The Post questioned a state health department spokesman about ParCare giving the coveted inoculations.

The network’s actions appear to violate the state’s plan to administer the limited supply of vaccines first to frontline healthcare workers, along with nursing home residents and staffers, Zucker said.

The state controls where, and to whom, the vaccine is distributed — and there isn’t enough for those who are supposed to be at the front of the line.

“The supply of COVID-19 vaccine remains limited and has not yet met demand among the groups prioritized for initial vaccination,” Dr. Jane Zucker, the city Health Department’s assistant commissioner for immunizations said Thursday.

Officials did not say how Schelsinger may have obtained the vaccine.

ParCare claimed it had received 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine, news site BoroPark24 reported Dec. 21.

“Hundreds of patients were already vaccinated today, and people are still coming in,” Gary Schlesinger, the CEO and president of ParCare, told the news site.

Schlesinger also said he expected to have vaccinated 500 people in Boro Park that same day.

ParCare, which also has locations in East Harlem, Crown Heights and Kiryas Joel, set up a website, parcarevaccine.com, where residents could register for the vaccine.

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“You have to be on that list,” Schlesinger told BoroPark24, adding he expected to get more vaccines every day. “Once you are on the list, we have to vet to make sure that you are either a healthcare worker, are over 60, or have underlying conditions. We will not give the vaccine to people who are not eligible for this first batch of the shots.”

The vaccine is supposed to be given free of charge. ParCare’s website, though, asks those interested in receiving it for their insurance information. The network accepts Medicare, Medicaid, and most other insurance plans, the company said.

Schlesinger was seen in a photo tweeted Tuesday by the Rabbinical Alliance of America getting vaccinated himself, although he does not appear to be in a group that qualifies.

ParCare brazenly tweeted photos Monday showing boxes of the Moderna vaccine wrapped with ice packs and then in a refrigerator. 

“ONE SMALL INJECTION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY!” it tweeted.

Schlesinger is politically well-connected in the Orthodox Jewish community. He has cultivated ties to Mayor de Blasio, Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, and Brooklyn borough president and mayoral candidate Eric Adams, sources said.

He claims on his Facebook profile to have worked for the Bloomberg for Mayor campaign in 2009. His social media is full of photos of him with politicians, including President Trump. On Twitter, Schlesinger called de Blasio’s liaison to the Jewish community, Pinny Ringel, a friend.

A ParCare ad claimed “the FDA authorized” the network to receive “a minimal number of COVID-19 vaccines.”

“The vaccines will be made available on a first-come, first-serve (sic) basis,” the ad says.
It adds the vaccines will be given “Only for people in the following categories,” and lists: “Elderly, high risk, underlying conditions.”

The state has not yet authorized the vaccine for anyone in those categories who lives outside of a nursing home, long-term care facility or group home.

One community member told The Post his father, in his 60s, received the vaccine at ParCare’s Williamsburg clinic.

“It’s known in the community you can get a vaccine if you want,” the resident said, adding “it’s a mystery” how the clinic obtained the supply.

“We take this very seriously and DOH will be assisting State Police in a criminal investigation into this matter. Anyone found to have knowingly participated in this scheme will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the state health commissioner said.

In a statement released late Saturday, a ParCare rep said the network is continuing to operate while cooperating with the DOH investigation.

“During these unprecedented times, we have striven to provide critical healthcare services and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to those qualified to receive them under the New York State Department of Health’s guidelines, which includes frontline healthcare workers and first responders,” the statement said.

“Parcare Community Health Network has a long history of partnering with the City of New York to provide vital healthcare services to New Yorkers who need them most — including providing COVID-19 testing — especially for New Yorkers in medically underserved communities who’ve been hardest hit by COVID-19,” ParCare’s statement continued.

“As we actively cooperate with the New York State Department of Health on this matter, we will continue to perfom top-quality healthcare services to help New York come out of this pandemic.”

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