Blue Shield CEO, who responds to critics attacking his company’s role in the state’s new COVID vaccine plan, says he thinks his team can help California improve its distribution system by keeping a closer eye on where the vaccine is at all times – from when the federal government grants it to the state to when shots actually go into the arms.
“We’re really set up to have a successful effort,” CEO Paul Markovich said during a webinar Friday hosted by Singer Associates, a crisis liaison firm that was brought in when the Oakland company was flooded. with criticism for being in the state’s vaccine program.
California recently asked the insurance giant for help deciding where to distribute the Golden State vaccine, sparking a spate of protests from provinces and health clinics complaining that the company’s role will slow the spread of vaccines . Provinces have almost universally refused to sign contracts with Blue Shield and are instead campaigning for agreements with the state.
On Friday, Markovich said that if provinces want to work out agreements with the state instead of with his company, it is “good with us.”
Regardless, the company, which is signed to be the vaccine advisor of the state, intends to play an important role in the distribution of vaccines, which is expected to be much more centralized. Instead of vaccinating provinces and then deciding which clinics and hospitals to send them to, the state, with the help of Blue Shield, says it plans to specify where the vaccine should go and follow the process.
“We felt we could help save lives,” Markovich said. “The thing we think can best help us to help is to make sure the state and all the local health areas know where the vaccine is at all times.”
Officials and health organizations in Santa Clara County in particular have deterred Blue Shield’s involvement and the possibility of losing local control.
County Smith, Jeff Smith, said Friday that his team and Los Angeles County are negotiating with the state to try to reach an agreement that will enable the two counties to retain control of the distribution process within their borders. There is no such agreement yet.
“We have the local knowledge, the relationships and the infrastructure already up for the job,” supervisor Susan Ellenberg said during a news conference this week, surrounded by community health clinic leaders who were concerned that their stock of vaccine – which they currently came from the country – can be cut off under the new system.
But Markovich pointed to a shortage of supplies the country has recently experienced, which has forced it to stop planning appointments for the first dose, as a problem he thinks the company can help solve.
“The state did not know the exact inventory numbers of individual suppliers, and it was not until now,” he said, “and as a result, some of the major suppliers such as the University of California and Sutter began to vaccine and not get the doses by the state at the level they need to fulfill appointments for the second dose, because the state in their data believed that the organizations had a lot of stock. But in reality they do not.
“And when we discovered that was the case, we finally tried to give many doses to the organizations to keep those appointments,” Markovich continued. ‘But in the meantime, it has created a shortage elsewhere – like Santa Clara County eventually getting fewer doses than they expected from Moderna, and then they had a second dose shortage. The ability to know where the vaccine is at all times, to know what the stock is at each supplier, therefore enables a much smoother, more predictable manageable system. ”
According to Markovich, California has the capacity to deliver more than 7.5 million doses per week of vaccination, but the supply was recently closer to 1.6 million doses. The state expects to reach 2.5 million doses per week north by April, and the figure could rise to 4 million per week as vaccine manufacturers make more doses.
“Capacity is just not an issue,” he said. “We are more limited.”
Blue Shield, which can pay the state up to $ 15 million in expenses, will also send out performance management reports to evaluate how well different providers are doing to arouse the shots they are given and to expect more details about vaccine providers, so that they can avoid the type of cancellations that have plagued them so far.
While Blue Shield says it will focus specifically on equity and vaccination of the most vulnerable, some Bay Area organizations working with vulnerable populations are skeptical, pointing out that they have a long relationship with local leaders, but not with the company. not.
Sarita Kohli, CEO of the community health organization AACI, said the collaboration with Santa Clara County was a success.
“It happens fast and it happens efficiently, and the system works really, really well,” she said. “Let us not try to fix something that is not broken.”
Fiona Kelliher reported.