[Written for UCSB's Beat Reporting course in February of 2021.]
Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, Director of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, announced Thursday that the county plans to transition to a new model of COVID-19 vaccine rollout which shifts facilitation off of the county and onto third-party administrator Blue Shield.
“Blue Shield is tasked with allocating and distributing vaccines, taking the local health departments out of the coordinator role,” she said. “It will cooperate with pharmacies, large clinic systems, hospitals and community health centers to cover the main population.”
Meanwhile, the Public Health Department maintains responsibility for reaching vulnerable populations, including the homeless, mentally ill and undocumented. “We will continue to function as the safety-net provider,” Do-Reynoso explained.
She addressed the change in infrastructure at a virtual town hall meeting, hosted Thursday evening on Zoom by State Assemblymember Steve Bennet, State Senator Monique Limón and Congressmember Salud Carbajal.
“We are committed to working with our state leadership as well as our local public health partners, our health care providers, and our community members to ensure a seamless transition to the new vaccine distribution model,” Do-Reynoso said. “We will continue to use our infrastructure moving forward when the time comes to offer vaccines to the most vulnerable community members as tasked by the state.”
In total, the county has received nearly 45,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines; 80% of these have been allocated to hospitals, community clinics, medical providers, and pharmacies, with the remaining 20% going to community vaccination sites in Santa Barbara, Lompoc, and Santa Maria. So far, more than 30,000 of these doses have been administered to Santa Barbara County residents. The county expects to receive another 6,550 doses next week.
Medical providers and hospitals throughout the region continue to oversee independent vaccination clinics and release appointments by site. Going forward, though, vaccine allocation to these sites will be independently managed by Blue Shield, rather than by the county Public Health Department. However, Do-Reynoso still advises that community members utilize the county website as a directory for local providers and that they register online with the Public Health Department to receive notifications about vaccination appointments throughout the community.
Do-Reynoso also spoke of the importance of equity in the county’s approach. “We are currently partnering with pharmacies to deliver vaccines to eligible community members living in neighborhoods that don’t have equitable access to the resources that we all have,” she said.
The meeting also featured the County of Ventura Health Care Agency’s Chief Deputy Director, Barry Zimmerman, who shared the respective vaccine rollout plan for Ventura County. Zimmerman spoke of a largely centralized vaccine distribution system, with vaccination sites jointly set up throughout the region by the Ventura hospital and public health systems. Ventura County has administered 50,000 first doses and 10,000 second doses to date, Zimmerman reported.
Additionally, Zimmerman and Do-Reynoso debunked myths of providers “stockpiling” vaccines, both citing a shortage of second doses. According to Do-Reynoso, Santa Barbara County even used 50% of its second-dose allotment for a greater quantity of first doses.
For the time being, both counties are only offering vaccines to healthcare workers and individuals age 75 and older. A recent epidemiology analysis shows the latter group to be “most likely to suffer a serious outcome and even a fatal outcome,” Do-Reynoso reported.
More than 1,000 Santa Barbara and Ventura County constituents attended the livestream on Zoom. Assemblymember Bennet organized the event after he, Senator Limón, and Congressman Carbajal began receiving a high volume of questions from community members about widespread vaccine rollout and individual vaccine access. Many attendees submitted questions in advance, most wondering when their respective demographics would receive access to the vaccine.
Neither Zimmerman nor Do-Reynoso could provide specifics, but both remain hopeful that vaccine supply and pace of distribution will only improve going forward.
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