Equity v. efficiency in vaccination

Here's a sad story from the NY Times, as we struggle with getting people vaccinated, while making sure that everything is fair and square:

The Vaccine Had to Be Used. He Used It. He Was Fired.  By Dan Barry

"The Texas doctor had six hours. Now that a vial of Covid-19 vaccine had been opened on this late December night, he had to find 10 eligible people for its remaining doses before the precious medicine expired. In six hours.

...

"The doctor figured that if he returned the open vial to his department’s almost certainly empty office at this late hour, it would go to waste. So as he started the drive to his home in a neighboring county, he said, he called people in his cellphone’s contact list to ask whether they had older relatives or neighbors needing to be immunized.

...

"The next morning, he said, he submitted the paperwork for the 10 people he had vaccinated the previous night, including his wife. He said he also informed his supervisor and colleagues of what he had done, and why.

"Several days later, the doctor said, that supervisor and the human resources director summoned him to ask whether he had administered 10 doses outside of the scheduled event on Dec. 29. He said he had, in keeping with guidelines not to waste the vaccine — and was promptly fired.

"The officials maintained that he had violated protocol and should have returned the remaining doses to the office or thrown them away, the doctor recalled."