First, Congress could use its Commerce Clause powers to prevent any person from traveling to another state to get a vaccine. In addition to requiring states to develop vaccine prioritization enforcement plans, the federal government could take two more steps to combat vaccine line jumping. For example, the widely condemned prosecution of a doctor who administered doses that were about to expire provides a good example of what vaccine line jumping prosecution should not look like. State variations on enforcement would provide political scientists and public health professionals a unique opportunity to determine the most effective means for deterring vaccine line jumping.
#HOSPITAL LAWS JUMPING LINE CODE#
For example, some states may amend their criminal code to establish new offenses, others may use existing laws to prosecute line jumpers, and others might issue fines from the public health authority. This approach allows states to craft and execute their own plans to prevent and punish line jumping. To be constitutional, however, the amount of money at stake could not be so great as to be coercive states must have a real choice between enforcing vaccine guidelines and going without the funding. This requirement would ensure that states investigate and prosecute violations of their guidelines but would give them flexibility in doing so. Congress could require that states seeking vaccine rollout funds from the federal government implement some kind of enforcement program to ensure that the vaccines are distributed in accordance with the state’s guidelines. HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN DETER LINE JUMPINGĪ promising tool for Congress to use in deterring vaccine line jumping would be the spending power. So, what can be done? Here are a few avenues to ensure that people abide by their state’s vaccine guidelines. This happens at hospitals with poor rollout plans, where staff find themselves competing against each other, and even against members of the public, in a vaccine “free for all.” It can also happen when hospitals vaccinate low-risk staff members ahead of community members at greater risk. Vaccine line jumping happens when individuals get vaccinated before their state guidelines recommend it.
When organizations like hospitals and long-term care facilities receive doses from the state health department to administer to their employees, they are expected to comply with their state’s guidelines. State departments of health use their own criteria, largely modeled after those of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, to distribute vaccines among residents. As these vaccines roll off the assembly line, the federal government allocates them to the states. Vaccine line jumping is expected to get worse as eligibility expands, so the time to sharpen those legal tools is now.Īt the time of this writing, two COVID-19 vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This Post explores the legal tools available to the federal government to enforce vaccine guidelines. Governor Cuomo of New York has promised the same but goes even further: he seeks to impose massive fines on individuals and institutions, and he is recommending that the state legislature make jumping the vaccine line a crime. In California, Governor Newsom has promised that healthcare providers who jump the vaccine line will lose their licenses. Now, state governments administering the vaccine rollout are realizing that vaccine line jumping is a problem that requires a stick, not a carrot. To date, law enforcement has focused its resources on prosecuting price gouging, COVID-19 scams, and vaccine tampering. to skip the vaccine lines in their home country. And foreign nationals are landing in the U.S. Patients, and at least one employer, have been caught trying to access surplus vaccines by giving “charitable” gifts. There are widespread reports of healthcare workers who are at low risk of infection taking advantage of their institutions’ honor systems and getting their shots before their colleagues at higher risk. Now that COVID-19 vaccines are available for those at highest risk of infection, one more antisocial behavior must be added to the list: jumping the vaccine line. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a variety of antisocial behaviors, from profiteers filling warehouses with disinfectants to tenants demanding sexual favors from clients who are behind on rent.
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