California plans to vaccinate up to 3 million people a week by March 1 – more than double the current rate – under a distribution contract with Blue Shield that went into effect on Monday. The goal has been set, even while provinces still have frustrating supply problems.
The partnership with Blue Shield is intended to repair what has so far been a bumpy, chaotic vaccination in California, which was highlighted in the Bay Area this week by one major vaccination system, while two others were shut down due to vaccine shortages.
The Oakland Coliseum opens Tuesday morning as the largest vaccination site in Alameda County. The state began making appointments for the clinic on Sunday on MyTurn.ca.gov – its online booking platform.
The favorable opening and disappointing closure is one of the most obvious indications of the fight to vaccinate people in California quickly and efficiently. Vaccine access was often fickle and residents expressed frustrated confusion about when and how they would be able to get their shots.
‘It’s obviously confusing for people. It is difficult to know what is going on, ”said dr. George Rutherford, an expert in infectious diseases at UCSF, said in an interview Monday. “But it’s not about bad intentions. It is about nothing but the vagaries of the supply system. All we can do is ask people to tolerate us as the question catches up with the question. ”
Government officials said the partnership with Blue Shield will streamline the distribution, depending on the expertise of one of California’s largest insurance providers. The
The state is still responsible for approving vaccines to provinces and certain major healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente, and for determining how doses are distributed. Blue Shield has the task of developing a system to help the state make the decisions and to manage distribution details.
Blue Shield’s distribution system must not only take into account how many people are served by provinces and suppliers, but how quickly they administer vaccines and how well they reach disadvantaged communities.
The state and Blue Shield set a goal to build capacity so that California can vaccinate 3 million people a week by this month and 4 million a week by the end of April. Whether they can administer so many shots depends on the supply, which is not controlled by the state.
California currently vaccinates about 1.3 million people a week. According to the state Department of Public Health, the state administered more than 6 million doses as of Monday.
Other objectives relate to equal access to vaccinations. For 95% of the population, vaccines should be available within 30 minutes of travel time in urban areas and 60 minutes in rural areas, and there should be plans to vaccinate people who cannot leave their homes. The contract repeatedly refers to evolving objectives and criteria for obtaining vaccines to communities most affected by the coronavirus.
The Oakland Coliseum website, along with a similar venture in Cal State Los Angeles, is intended to resolve some of these stock issues. The Coliseum Clinic is open to all Californians, not just Alameda County residents, although they must adhere to the current provincial vaccination to make an appointment. The group includes health workers; anyone 65 years of age or older; and workers in the education, emergency services, and food and agriculture industries.
Both civil servants preferred access to both sites to people struggling to be vaccinated elsewhere. Fair distribution of vaccines was problematic. In particular, residents of Latino and Black are vaccinated at a much lower dose than white people, despite a much more severe disease.
“These sites are designed to reach populations that generally have more difficult access to good medical care,” said Grady Joseph, assistant director of the Governors’ Office for Emergency Services, or Cal OES. “We approach both of these sites from a lens of equity. And to make sure that individuals who have historically had more difficult access are at the front of the queue. ”
The Oakland Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles sites were the first to be announced by the Biden government this month as part of a plan to build 100 mass vaccination clinics across the country in the first 100 days of the president. The Oakland Coliseum website wants to deliver 6,000 doses a day. Both sites are managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state, by Cal OES.
Vaccine supplies for the Oakland site come directly from the federal government, not Alameda County allocation, and people do not have to be provincial residents to use the site. Other major vaccination clinics, including those in San Francisco
Mayor London Breed lamented the lack of vaccine supply on Twitter on Sunday when she announced that the two sites in San Francisco would be closed until at least the end of the week.
“I am frustrated because we have shown that SF can give shots as soon as it comes in,” Breed wrote. “The only thing holding us back is a lack of supply, and I hope that will change soon.”
Similarly, public health officials had to suspend vaccinations at various sites in Southern California, including Dodger Stadium, last week. The site will reopen Tuesday, but only to people receiving their second doses, public health officials said. They said their ability to scale up the clinic is mainly limited by vaccine provision.
“Our city has the tools, the infrastructure and the determination to vaccinate Angelenos quickly and safely – we simply need more doses,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement Monday.
Rutherford said the supply issues are in part a hold of the Trump administration, which would make too many doses available to states. Vaccines arrived at around the promised levels in early December, and then quickly fell short.
“Everyone is trying as best they can to do, given all the circumstances,” Rutherford said.
Erin Allday is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email Address: