Santa Clara County executive Jeff Smith said this week that the county does not plan to sign the agreement with Blue Shield because the county has already set up its own vaccine appointment system and vaccination sites that work well. Blue Shield, he said, would add another layer of bureaucracy to the process and no apparent benefits.
He called MyTurn, the state’s vaccine appointment system, an “inferior appointments and data collection system” compared to the county’s existing vaccine IT system.
“We don’t need more bureaucracy; we just need more vaccine,” he said.
Santa Clara is not alone. As reported earlier in the Los Angeles Times, a number of counties have expressed similar concerns and skepticism about the state’s planned takeover of vaccine distribution, which is scheduled to be completed this month. Vaccinations have largely been managed by county health departments and regional health providers. Under the state system, the process is to be overseen by Blue Shield. A major part of the state system is a vaccine equity plan announced last week that will allocate 40 percent of the state’s vaccine supply to roughly 400 of the state’s poorest ZIP codes.
Only one of California’s 58 counties, Kern County, has signed contracts to participate in the Blue Shield agreement, marking another potential hiccup in a vaccination rollout that has frustrated many Californians. Other Bay Area counties said Monday that they are reviewing the Blue Shield contract and have not yet decided whether to opt in. Some said they were scheduled to meet with Blue Shield this week to discuss how the new state system would impact local vaccine supply.
It is unclear what happens to counties or providers that do not participate in the state network. During the transition to Blue Shield, providers that are already administering vaccines will continue receiving doses, the company said.
While county health departments are not the only vaccinators in their region — large providers such as Kaiser and Sutter also get a major portion of vaccine supply from the state — they often administer a sizable portion of vaccines to local residents. In Santa Clara County, for instance, the county health system is scheduled to handle 52 percent of vaccine appointments scheduled the next seven days.
Statewide, 80 hospitals, clinics and other providers that collectively administer shots at about 1,000 vaccination sites have signed on to the Blue Shield system as of the end of last week, according to Blue Shield. They include large health systems such as the University of California and local community clinics such as La Clinica, Asian Health Services and LifeLong Medical Care.
“We continue to work diligently to have as many eligible providers participate in the enhanced network,” Blue Shield said in a statement. “Together, our goal is to build a network that reaches every corner of our state, especially those communities that have been hardest hit by this pandemic.”
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