BusinessWeek has broken the story that large employers like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are among the first on the list to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Clusterstock, the business blog, has added the nuance that not only has Goldman Sachs received the same number of vaccinations as Lennox Hill hospital in New York City -- the finance giant got its hands on the doses before many hospitals.

Goldman Sachs' PR reps want to make it clear to the public that the CDC distributes vaccines to many types of large employers, such as Time Warner and New York University. The idea is to get the vaccine to people at many points of potential infection, giving the H1N1 vaccine to those who come into contact regularly with high risk groups within large companies. Goldman Sachs has received 200 H1N1 vaccines, Citigroup 1,200.

This "guest list" treatment makes sense for some early recipients of the H1N1 vaccine. Hospital workers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the New York Presbyterian Healthcare System clearly need early protection -- and got some of the first doses along with Goldman.

But Goldman Sachs? Citigroup? When you look at the list of people the CDC mandates must receive an H1N1 vaccination first at these employers, the reasoning for their special treatment seems sketchy:

Health-care workers at those employers are bound by the CDC to distribute the vaccine only to populations deemed to be at high risk of developing serious complications from swine flu: pregnant women, children and young people aged 6 months to 24 years, people who live with or provide care for infants under 6 months (who cannot be vaccinated), people aged 24 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for flu-related complications, and health-care workers and emergency medical personnel. A spokeswoman for Goldman, who asked not to be named, said the company had just received the vaccine and did not yet have information as to how it would be distributed, saying that Goldman will supply vaccine only to those who qualify as high-risk, per the CDC requirements. Citigroup had not responded with a comment as of the evening of Nov. 2. (BusinessWeek)

It is hard to imagine that a ton of "pregnant women, children and young people aged 6 months to 24 years [or] people who live with or provide care for infants under 6 months (who cannot be vaccinated)" work at Goldman Sachs or Citigroup. In addition, it has been confirmed by the New York City health office that Goldman Sachs received the vaccines ahead of many hospitals -- where the employees sorely need it -- because the banking behemoth asked for it.

It's unclear who is more suspect in this situation -- the City of New York for giving these banks the vaccine, or the banks for asking for it before all those truly at high risk have been inoculated.

On the heels of news that Wall Street bonuses are up 40% in 2009, one imagines that Goldman Sachs could afford to pay for their own creation and distribution of H1N1 vaccines rather than taxing public resources. They are taking the H1N1 vaccine from the facilities that are crucial to averting what has been declared a national state of emergency.

By getting first in line for H1N1 vaccinations when the vaccines have been declared scarce, Goldman yet again paints itself as the perfect picture of corporate greed. Wasn't the billion dollar bail out, of which Goldman Sachs was a prime beneficiary, enough? Do they need to take vital medicine from frailest members of the general public, too?