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Lawmakers weigh restoring funding for MyCA VAX, CalConnect and other public-health IT systems
Summary
CDPH said decommissioning the Vaccine Management System (VMS)/MyCA VAX and related systems (Sapphire, CalConnect, CAIR/CARIP III) would disrupt vaccine ordering, inventory and outbreak response; local health officials and provider groups urged restoring funding.
The California Department of Public Health told the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on March 10 that maintenance and operations funding is needed for three infectious-disease data systems: CalConnect, Sapphire and the California Immunization Registry project (Care3 / CAIR/CarIP III). Department witnesses said the budget-year cost to continue the VMS (including MyCA VAX and related vaccine ordering and digital records tools) would be about $44 million, and without it CDPH would have to "decommission the VMS system."
A CDPH representative said such decommissioning would sever core functions including vaccine ordering for the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, processing about 30,000 digital vaccine records weekly, and handling more than 700 record-correction requests per week. The department said VMS supported more than 9,000 clinics and administration of over 1,000,000 vaccine doses in 2023-24.
Senators pressed CDPH on contingency planning and impacts on workload if the system were decommissioned. CDPH said there were no finalized mitigation plans and that a reversion to manual processes would increase workload for providers and local health departments. Department of Finance staff told the committee the administration is still evaluating options and that the system was not funded in the governor's January budget.
Multiple local and statewide stakeholders urged the subcommittee to restore funding. Representatives from the County Health Executives Association of California, California State Association of Counties, the California Association of Public Hospitals, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Health Officers Association of California and others warned of service disruptions, inventory management failures, and impacts on provider capacity if MyCA VAX and related systems were defunded.
Public commenters provided usage figures: one local health official told the committee that over 700 providers (later corrected by a health officer representative to over 7,000 providers) use the system and that more than 10 million doses have been administered through MyCA VAX. Commenters urged the Legislature to consider backfilling any administration cuts to maintain continuity and to avoid reverting to manual spreadsheets and phone calls during routine operations or outbreaks.
