One of Pennsylvania’s largest health networks allowed employees’ family members to skip the COVID-19 vaccine line, raising questions of fairness at a time of strong public demand and scarce supply. Geisinger’s decision to give special access to employees’ relatives earned a rebuke from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which says the health care giant shouldn’t have held vaccine clinics for eligible family members of employees. About 3,600 relatives of Geisinger employees were vaccinated under the program. Geisinger says those family members met the state’s eligibility requirements. The vaccine clinics allowed family members to avoid the frustrating, tedious and often fruitless hunt for an appointment that has plagued the state’s early rollout.
