The expected cost of administering COVID-19 vaccines in California has quadrupled to $ 1.3 billion from two months ago, a price announced Thursday, as the state also makes extensive changes to its delivery plan. of doses under a program run by Blue Shield of California, The Times has learned.
In a letter sent to provinces by the California Industry Agency in California this week, the state said it would give some decision-making powers to local public health officials by requiring Blue Shield to consult with a state before making recommendations. about how many vaccines should be received per jurisdiction.
The letter, obtained by The Times, also outlines another major change in the nationwide vaccination network. The state has previously planned to limit the province’s ability to deliver vaccines to local clinics and healthcare providers, but rather to make decisions about who can administer doses to Blue Shield and government officials. Under the changes commemorated in a letter from Gabriel Ravel, chief advocate at the Government Industry Agency, a country can use its discretion – subject to state approval – to distribute portions of its vaccines to other suppliers.
“The state is trying to take a positive step to address problems in the country,” said Santa Clara County CEO Jeff Smith.
The Newsom government said in a legislative hearing on Thursday that it would cost $ 151 million to create and administer the nationwide vaccine network, most of which provides information technology support. In addition to a $ 15 million contract with Blue Shield, the state has a two-month contract with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. signed for $ 13 million to assist the insurance company and the state with the vaccine delivery system.
The Newsom government estimates that between 2020 and 2022, the state will spend more than $ 15 billion on its COVID-19 response, most of which will be reimbursed by the federal government. That’s $ 2 billion more than the governor estimated would be needed just two months ago, with much of the increase due to the state’s new vaccine distribution system, according to the Department of Finance. The estimates released during Thursday’s hearing are part of the budget negotiations between the governor and the legislature.
Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), chairman of the Assembly budget, said the Newsom government had agreed to give more details on the spending of COVID-19 in the revised budget announced in May.
“We also asked them to justify not only California’s spending on vaccines, but also all of our COVID-19 spending,” Ting said.
Newsom announced in January that the state would introduce Blue Shield to revamp the state’s vaccine delivery system. Under the revamped system, Blue Shield uses an algorithm to give the state recommendations on where doses should be sent and how much is needed. Previously, the state decided how much vaccine each country would receive, but the provinces determined where doses were sent locally.
Provinces have been locked in a few months’ deadlock over the changes, and most are refusing to sign a contract with Blue Shield. Officials in some counties, including Los Angeles, have asked the state to disregard the changes and expressed concern about outsourced oversight. Only Kern County signed the contract with Blue Shield.
Last week, the state offered to allow the remaining provinces to sign a separate agreement with the Government Industry Agency instead of Blue Shield, with negotiations for additional changes to the terms that gave rise to the letter signed by Ravel on Tuesday. .
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 is still opposed to the global system run by Blue Shield.
“Each country 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 a sign [memorandum of understanding] causing our vaccine delivery system or health delivery system to deteriorate. ”
Government Operations Secretary Yolanda Richardson told lawmakers on Thursday that the memorandum of understanding between the state and local health departments is still being formalized “so we can work side by side to do the job with as little disruption as possible. “
Despite discussions with counties, Richardson said vaccine providers are part of the nationwide network every day.
“By April and May, these providers will offer vaccinations on thousands of sites across the state,” she said.
Richardson said the shortage of supply hampered the state’s ability to offer the vaccine to the 25 million Californians over the age of 16 who want the protection. To date, 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 have been vaccinated less than we need to, but in April we expect that to change,” Richardson said. “Based on meetings with the federal government, we expect a sharp increase in vaccines from the first week of April.”
The Newsom administration plans to spend $ 40 million on a media and outreach campaign aimed at addressing vaccine reluctance to encourage residents to be vaccinated.
Vaccine hesitation is expected to become an increasing problem as stocks increase in the coming weeks, and could grow into the main obstacle to mass vaccination. During Thursday’s legislative hearing on state spending on COVID-19, the handful of speakers who called in during public commentary fought against vaccines and falsely claimed that vaccinations were dangerous.
One woman who attended the trial in person regularly shouted and interrupted lawmakers, shouting at one point, “You are going to kill the children.” Such outbursts have become routine in the state Capitol when discussing vaccines.
Richardson said the state expects to be able to vaccinate every adult who wants a shot by the end of June, after President Biden said the United States wants to produce enough doses for every adult by May.
“We will be ready to get the vaccines in the weapon,” Richardson said. ‘We have built a global vaccine network with Blue Shield that can administer at least 4 million doses of vaccine per week. In the last seven days alone in California, we have administered more than 2 million doses. ‘