Outside Contractor Hired by Exxon-Mobil Gave Some Texas Employees Fake Flu Shots, Authorities Say
The Associated Press
BAYTOWN, Texas - Fake flu shots were given out last week at a health fair at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown complex and an investigation was under way, authorities said.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Treacy A. Roberts said Thursday that the FBI told the company that what was administered "definitely not the flu vaccine."
It doesn't appear that the fake shots were harmful, but steps were being taken to ensure workers' safety, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement Thursday.
Exxon Mobil offered blood tests and counseling to the up to 1,000 employees who took part in the health fair at the oil company's vast complex of refineries and chemical plants just east of Houston.
The FBI and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating what was in the syringes and whether others might have received the fake vaccine, Rosenberg said.
Jeanne Miller, another Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, said a doctor provided the shots in Exxon's first use of an outside contractor to administer the shots. She declined to identify the doctor because of the federal investigation.
In the past, Miller said, company medical staff had offered flu shots at health fairs.
FBI officials did not explain how they found out about the potential fraud, Roberts said.
In May, a nurse in Minnesota, Michelle Torgerson, pleaded guilty to dispensing a drug without a prescription, admitting she used diluted vaccine left over from an earlier clinic and pocketed the cash when she gave college students shots at $20 each.
if this is an elaborate retribution for the obscene profits Exxon has been making, I'm afraid the punishment went to people way down the food chain from the CEO's et all who made the most money.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Didn't someone do this last year? I think someone was just trying to make some money, I can't imagine someone would do this to PUNISH Exxon.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:08 am Posts: 22978 Gender: Male
I think the headline is a bit misleading. It makes it sound like Exxon Mobil was behind an evil plot to fool its employees... when in reality, they were fooled as well.
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