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The expected cost of administering COVID-19 vaccines in California has nearly quadrupled from two months ago to $ 1.3 billion, a price released Thursday as the state also rolls back sweeping changes to its plan to centralize dose distribution under a program run by Blue Shield of California, the Times learned.
In a letter sent by the California Government Operations Agency to counties this week, the state said it would return some decision-making powers to local public health officials by requiring Blue Shield to consult with a county before making recommendations on the number. vaccine doses. the jurisdiction should receive.
The letter, which was obtained by The Times, also describes another major change in the statewide immunization network. The state previously planned to restrict a county’s ability to provide vaccines to local clinics and health care providers, instead leaving decisions about who should administer the doses to Blue Shield and representatives of the community. ‘State. Under the changes commemorated in a letter from Gabriel Ravel, general counsel at the Government Operations Agency, a county could use its discretion – subject to state approval – to distribute portions of its vaccine allowance to other suppliers.
“The state is trying to take a positive step in solving the county’s problems,” said Jeff Smith, Santa Clara County Director.
In a legislative hearing Thursday, the Newsom administration said it would cost $ 151 million to build and administer the state-wide vaccine network, much of which is for technology support some information. In addition to a $ 15 million contract with Blue Shield, the state signed a two-month contract with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for $ 13 million to help the insurance company and l ‘Status with the vaccine delivery system.
The Newsom administration estimates that between 2020 and 2022, the state will spend more than $ 15 billion on its response to COVID-19, most of which will be reimbursed by the federal government. That’s $ 2 billion more than the governor felt was needed just two months ago, with much of the increase due to the state’s new vaccine delivery system, according to the finance ministry. . The estimates released during Thursday’s hearing are part of budget negotiations between the governor and the legislature.
Assembly Budget Chairman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) said the Newsom administration agreed to provide more details on COVID-19 spending in the revised budget released in May.
“We also asked them to justify not only California’s vaccine spending, but all of our COVID-19 spending,” Ting said.
Newsom announced in January that the state would use Blue Shield to overhaul the state’s vaccine delivery system. As part of the revamped system, Blue Shield uses an algorithm to make recommendations to the state on where to send the doses and how many are needed. Previously, the state decided how much vaccine each county would receive, but counties controlled where doses were sent locally.
Counties have been stuck in a weeks-long standoff over changes, with most refusing to sign a contract with Blue Shield. Officials in some counties, including Los Angeles, have called on the state to withdraw from the changes, expressing concerns about the outsourced surveillance. Only Kern County signed the contract with Blue Shield.
Last week, the state offered to allow other counties to sign a separate agreement with the Government Operations Agency instead of Blue Shield, with negotiations for further changes to the terms, which prompted the letter from Tuesday signed by Ravel.
On Friday, the California Department of Public Health announced that eight counties, including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego, had signed the agreement with the state.
Smith said Santa Clara County remains opposed to the national system run by Blue Shield.
“Each county has different needs and different levels of investment in their delivery system,” he said. “One size does not fit all and we will not sign any [memorandum of understanding] which results in a deterioration of our vaccine delivery system or our health care system. “
Government Operations Secretary Yolanda Richardson told lawmakers on Thursday that the memorandum of understanding between state and local health departments was still being formalized “so we can work side by side to get the job done. with as little disruption as possible ”.
Despite hanging up with the counties, Richardson said vaccine suppliers are signing up every day to be part of the nationwide network.
“By April and May, these providers will be offering vaccinations at thousands of sites across the state,” she said.
Richardson said supply shortages have hampered the state’s ability to deliver the vaccine to the 25 million Californians over 16 who want protection. So far, more than 12 million doses have been administered in the state, with 4.5 million residents fully vaccinated.
“Like every state in the country, we received less vaccines than needed, but in April we expect that to change,” said Richardson. “Based on meetings with the federal government, we expect a large increase in vaccines from the first week of April.”
The Newsom administration plans to spend $ 40 million on a media and awareness campaign to tackle vaccine reluctance to encourage residents to get vaccinated.
Vaccine reluctance is expected to become more of a problem as supplies increase in the coming weeks, and could become the main obstacle to mass inoculation. During Thursday’s legislative hearing on state spending for COVID-19, the handful of speakers who called during public comments denounced the vaccines and falsely alleged the vaccinations were dangerous.
A woman attending the in-person hearing regularly shouted and interrupted lawmakers, shouting at one point, “You are going to kill the children.” Such explosions have become common inside the State Capitol whenever vaccines are discussed.
Richardson said the state expected to be able to vaccinate all adults who wish to be vaccinated by the end of June, after President Biden said the United States was working to produce enough doses to each adult by the end of May.
“We will be ready to arm these vaccines,” said Richardson. “We have built a statewide vaccination network with Blue Shield that will be able to deliver at least 4 million doses of vaccine per week. In the last seven days alone, here in California, we have administered over 2 million doses. “
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