The California Government Operations Agency (GovOps) issued a
clarification letter to counties considering or that have signed
the state/county vaccine MOU yesterday. The clarification letter
ensures that counties have an equal seat at the table for
recommending providers to the state’s Third-Party Administrator
(TPA) and may continue to distribute vaccine doses to
county-supported sites.
The March 16 MOU Clarification letter can be viewed
here.
The Administration agreed to clarify two key parts of the MOU:
The letter clarifies that vaccine allocations to non-county,
non-MCE providers, will be based on joint recommendations from
both Blue Shield and local health jurisdictions. In addition, the
letter clarifies that Blue Shield is required to concurrently
send vaccine allocation recommendations to both the GovOps Agency
and local health jurisdictions. This cements the role of counties
as a partner in identifying key providers within each community
once the TPA is up and running.
The letter acknowledges that a county, with consultation and
approval from GovOps, may continue to use its discretion to
distribute portions of vaccines to county-supported sites. This
acknowledgment modifies Paragraph C of Section 2 within the MOU.
For counties that have already signed the MOU, no additional
action is needed. The state issued the clarifications in the
hopes that it will assist counties in reviewing, approving, and
implementing the MOU as soon as applicable.
