Blue Shield takes over vaccine system

California on Monday released its long-awaited contract with Blue Shield, the insurance giant now running the state’s new vaccine distribution system. Under the terms of the contract, Blue Shield will determine which providers can administer vaccine, develop an “allocation algorithm” based on equity and other factors, and centralize vaccination data. California will pay Blue Shield a maximum of $15 million for thirdparty costs and expenses, according to the contract, which also set goals for the new system, including:

• Vaccinating 3 million people per week by March 1 and 4 million people per week by April 30, supply permitting.

• Making vaccines available for 95% of Californians within 30 minutes in urban areas and 60 minutes in rural areas.

• Having providers administer 95% of doses within one week of receipt.

• Establishing in March a monthly vaccination goal for underserved populations. (The state on Friday published a vaccination

demographics dashboard located at https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/#California-vaccines-dashboard.)

California’s contract with Kaiser Permanente, which is opening two mass vaccination sites in partnership with the state, was not made available Monday. But Kaiser has had its own pandemic difficulties. California’s workplace safety agency has issued more citations against Kaiser than any other health care employer, fining it almost $500,000 for failing to adequately protect its employees against the virus, CalMatters’ Ana Ibarra reports. Kaiser is appealing all of the citations.