California aims to vaccinate up to 3 million people a week by March 1 – more than twice the current rate – under a distribution contract with Blue Shield that went into effect Monday. The target was set even as the provinces continued to face frustrating supply problems.
The partnership with Blue Shield aims to fix what was until now a messy and bumpy vaccination process in California, highlighted in the Bay Area this week by opening one major vaccination site while two others were closed due to vaccine shortages.
Oakland Coliseum opened Tuesday morning as the largest vaccination site in Alameda County. The state began taking appointments for the clinic Sunday at MyTurn.ca.gov – the online booking platform.
The auspicious opening and disappointing shutdowns are some of the most visible signs of the struggle to quickly and efficiently vaccinate people in California. Access to the vaccine has often been unpredictable, and residents have expressed frustrated confusion over when and how they will be able to get their vaccinations.
Obviously, people are baffled. It’s hard to know what’s going on, Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an interview on Monday. But it is not about bad intentions. It’s nothing but the fluctuations of the supply system. All we can do is ask people to bear us because supply meets demand. “
State officials said the collaboration with Blue Shield would simplify distribution, drawing on the expertise of one of California’s largest insurance providers. The
The state is still responsible for approving vaccine allocations to counties and some major health care providers, such as Kaiser Permanente, and for determining how the doses are split. Blue Shield is tasked with developing a system to assist the country in making those decisions and managing distribution details.
Blue Shield’s distribution system must take into account not only the number of people served by provinces and service providers, but also how quickly vaccines are given and how far they reach disadvantaged communities.
The state and the Blue Shield have set a goal of building capacity so that California can vaccinate 3 million people a week by the end of this month and 4 million people a week by the end of April. Whether they are able to manage many shots depends on the supply, which is not controlled by the state.
California currently vaccinates about 1.3 million people per week. The state had administered more than 6 million doses as of Monday, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.
Other goals relate to equal access to vaccines. For 95% of the population, vaccinations must be made available within 30 minutes of travel time in urban areas and 60 minutes in rural areas, and there must be plans to vaccinate people who cannot leave their homes. The decade repeatedly indicates the development of targets and metrics for the delivery of vaccines to communities that have been burdened with coronavirus.
The Oakland Coliseum site, along with a similar process in Cal State Los Angeles, aims to solve some of these stock issues. The Coliseum Clinic is open to all California residents, not just Alameda County residents, although they must meet current county vaccination eligibility to make an appointment. This group includes healthcare workers; Anyone 65 years of age or older; And workers in education, emergency services, food and agricultural industries.
State and federal officials said both sites will prioritize access to people who may have trouble getting vaccinated elsewhere. The equitable distribution of vaccines was an issue. Latino and black populations in particular are vaccinated at significantly lower rates than whites, despite bearing the heavy burden of disease.
“These sites were created to reach residents who generally have difficulty obtaining quality medical care,” said Grady Joseph, assistant director of the governor’s office for emergency services, or Cal OES. “We approach these two sites with equity. To ensure that individuals who have historically had difficulty reaching are at the front of the line.”
The Oakland Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles sites were the first to be announced by the Biden administration this month as part of a plan to build 100 mass vaccination clinics across the country in the president’s first 100 days in office. The Auckland Coliseum website aims to serve up to 6,000 doses per day. Both sites are operated by the federal and state Emergency Management Agency, through Cal OES.
Vaccine supplies for the Oakland site come directly from the federal government, not Alameda County allocations, and people don’t have to be county residents to use the site. Other large vaccination clinics, including those in San Francisco
The Mayor of London Breed lamented the lack of vaccine supplies on Twitter on Sunday, when she announced that the two San Francisco sites would be closed until at least the end of the week.
Breed wrote, “I’m disappointed that we showed SF can manage shots as soon as they come out.” “The only thing holding us back is a lack of supply, and I hope that will change soon.”
Likewise, public health officials had to stop vaccinations at several locations in Southern California, including Dodger Stadium, last week. Public health officials said this site would reopen Tuesday, but only for people receiving their second dose. They said their ability to expand the clinic was largely limited by vaccine supplies.
“Our city has the tools, infrastructure and determination to vaccinate Angelenos quickly and safely – we simply need more doses,” said Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles, in a statement Monday.
Rutherford said the supply problems are part of the Trump administration’s control, which is exaggerating its promises of the number of doses that will be made available to countries. The vaccines reached promised levels in the first two weeks of starting use in early December, and then quickly failed.
“Everyone tries to do as good as possible, under all circumstances,” Rutherford said.
Irene Alday is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. email:
