California Issues COVID-19 Vaccine Action Plan

On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the issuance of the COVID-19 Vaccine Action Plan that outlines how the state will immediately begin administering COVID-19 vaccine doses to eligible residents, continue the state’s equity focus on eligible but unvaccinated individuals, and expand operations once more residents become eligible. The move follows Wednesday’s authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to be administered to those over the age of 65 and other high-risk individuals.

According to the Newsom Administration, the vaccine action plan was developed in concert with local partners and providers statewide and works to leverage the existing vaccine infrastructure to connect eligible residents with local providers who can administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the plan, the state identifies five strategies by population group to leverage all partners and resources to administer the COVID-19 vaccine most effectively:

• Immunocompromised Individuals: Administration of an additional dose of vaccine through the existing health care delivery system, largely pharmacies and primary care providers.

• Unvaccinated or Not Fully Vaccinated: Administration of vaccine through local health jurisdictions (LHJs) to reach hard-to-reach populations in trusted and easy-to-access locations.

• Under 12 Population: Administration of vaccine through a combination of Vaccines for Children (VFC) providers, school-located vaccination clinics, pharmacies, and other primary care and pediatric providers.

• Boosters for Those 65+: Administration of vaccine through the existing health care delivery system, largely pharmacies and primary care providers.

• Boosters for Those 12-64: Administration of vaccine through a combination of existing health care delivery systems, pharmacies, primary care providers, schools, and mass vaccination clinics set up during peak timeframes.

The plan additionally highlights challenges and considerations in further administering COVID-19 vaccines, including that no federal staffing resources will be available, the federal pharmacy partnership used in vaccinating those in long-term care facilities will not be restarted, and support may be needed for LHJ mass vaccination clinics.

The state’s full plan is available here. Additional information from the Governor’s Office is available here.