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Exxon-Mobil workers got fake flu shots
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-29 10:15
HOUSTON - As many as 1,000 Exxon Mobil employees and 14 residents of a senior
citizens home were injected with fake flu vaccine, authorities said Friday, and
the owner of a home health care company was arrested.
Preliminary tests indicated the syringes were filled with purified water, US
Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said. And no ill effects from the shots were reported.
But Hermina Palacio, head of the Harris County health department, recommended
that people who received the shots get tested for blood-borne pathogens such as
the AIDS virus and hepatitis B and C.
Exxon Mobil offered blood tests and counseling to the employees who received
the shots at a health fair Oct. 19-20 at the oil company's complex of refineries
and chemical plants in Baytown, just east of Houston.
Iyad Abu El Hawa, 35, was arrested Thursday. El Hawa, owner of Comfort &
Caring Home Health and two other home health centers in Houston, was charged
with Medicare fraud in connection with shots given to 14 elderly people at a
home in LaPorte on Oct. 21.
When asked if El Hawa would be charged with giving bogus shots at the Exxon
Mobil fair, prosecutors said only that their investigation is continuing.
"This is a very callous and disturbing crime," Rosenberg said. "He
purposefully put at risk many, many people."
A call to Comfort & Caring was not immediately returned.
A nurse hired by the company to give the shots notified the FBI after
noticing some irregularities, Rosenberg said.
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