Central Coast health departments prepare for Blue Shield vaccine distribution takeover

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) The California Department of Public Health said providers and health departments will begin moving to uniform eligibility criteria for who can receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting March 1.

The transition will happen in phases and start later this month for the Central Coast, but there are still some unknowns about exactly how this will impact the vaccine rollout.

This is part of a state plan to create a statewide vaccine network that Blue Shield is in charge of administrating.

Counties and providers will have until March 31 to align with the state and transition to Phase 1B, which includes individuals 65 and older and essential frontline workers in agriculture and food, education and childcare and emergency services.

Before this change, Dr. David Ghilarducci, health officer for San Benito and Santa Cruz counties, said counties were running under their own varied system even though they were following state guidelines.

Dr. Ghilarducci is hopeful this will bring some uniformity and make sure the supply between counties is consistent.

“I’ve done some math myself and looked at how long it would take for us to fully get a first dose to everyone in Santa Cruz County and that's looking like early August of 2021. For San Benito County, at the rate of vaccine in San Benito County, it's not going to be until about 10 months after that, so it’s that much slower between the two counties,” Ghilarducci said.

He anticipates San Benito County will be able to vaccinate at a faster rate
under the new system.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that this will work well. We hope that that
does not mean that Santa Cruz County will get less vaccine. We do hope it
means that San Benito County does get more vaccine though and at least in
San Benito County, we have some catching up to do,” Ghilarducci said.

The Monterey County Health Department said they’ll make the transition
to align with the state on Wednesday. Santa Cruz County will move later this month.

Montage Health, which runs Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and clinics, said they’ll continue vaccinations as a participating provider in the state's new vaccine network.

There are still some unknowns about what this rollout will look like.

In a statement to KION, Montage VP Cynthia Peck said, “Between now and the transition deadline of March 31, we expect to learn much more about what use of MyTurn, the state-mandated appointment signup website, will mean for our high-volume clinic operations.”

Most local counties are on board with the transition, but some local
government leaders have expressed concerns about how blue shield will ensure equity in vaccine distributions.