US doctor reprimanded for taking vaccines without authorisation

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) — A Tennessee doctor has been reprimanded for removing five doses of the coronavirus vaccine without authorisation and giving them to family and a friend, officials said.

Claude F. Varner Jr., who had volunteered to administer vaccines in Memphis in January and February, took the doses from the Pipken Building and gave them to his wife, a friend and his daughter-in-law, according to a Tennessee Department of Health consent order.

Varner did not document administering the doses, the order said.

Varner signed the consent order that said he violated the Tennessee Medical Practice Act with conduct considered unprofessional, dishonourable or unethical and by dispensing a drug in violation of any state or federal law.

The board reprimanded the doctor's licence and ordered him to complete a medical school class on ethics and professionalism and pay a civil penalty of $500.

Varner declined to comment on the order.

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