Newsom said he wanted a more seamless vaccination system when he announced in late January that he had tapped Blue Shield to develop a statewide vaccine network that would meet equity metrics and get doses out quickly.
The no-bid, $15 million contract, which Blue Shield says it will not profit from, calls on the insurer to develop an algorithm for vaccine distribution but critical components are unknown, such as how to measure equity and what the monthly equity target will be.
The switch has been fraught with uncertainty as counties that had developed their own methods of signing up residents will have to turn over scheduling to a new statewide appointment and data collection system called My Turn.
Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California, said in a Friday call with reporters that they are talking to counties and their hope is to not make material changes to the networks in place. He that about 30 providers have signed contracts to administer vaccines under the new system, including hospitals, a federally qualified health centers and at least one pharmacy chain.
“Give us a chance to make this work,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot of speculation of all the things that could potentially go wrong. It’s our job to get this to work and work for everybody.”
Officials said Friday that Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego counties are among 28 in the southern and northern parts of the state that will start transitioning to the new network Monday, joining 10 other counties in central and southern parts of the state that have already started.
