SC governor to sign bill that’ll spend $208M to speed up COVID-19 vaccines
A bill that would pay for COVID-19 vaccination clinics across the state finally has resolution and is headed to the governor for his signature.
South Carolina lawmakers agreed to spend $208 million in vaccine relief that will pay for staff to give the vaccines, clinic marketing, facility rentals, and personal protective equipment, among other things.
Gov. Henry McMaster plans to sign the measure once it’s ratified and reaches his desk, a spokesman with his office said.
Lawmakers over the weekend ironed out a disagreement over whether to have regional panels give recommendations on how to distribute vaccines in the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s public health regions.
Even though the Senate stripped out that provision pushed by the House, state Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who chairs the House Ways & Means Committee, said he received assurance from new DHEC director Edward Simmer the agency would create the committees itself even without the legislative mandate.
“We take him at his word to go along with this,” Smith said.
On Tuesday, DHEC confirmed it will move forward with the regional panels.
“DHEC continues to value stakeholder input as integral to the impactful decisions that have been made throughout this pandemic response and continue to be made in regard to the fair and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine across the state,” DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick said.
Under the bill, DHEC will allocate vaccines per capita to its four public health regions: the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry, the Midlands and the Upstate, rather than per capita by county. But when distributing vaccines within those areas, lawmakers want DHEC to take into account factors such as poverty level, infection rates, age, and high-risk populations.
The legislation sends $63 million to DHEC, and $45 million to the Medical University of South Carolina, which helped the state increase its COVID-19 testing access last year, to distribute vaccines. Other hospitals would have access to up to $75 million and other providers would have access to up to $25 million.
“What’s important is we get the money to the citizens of the state of South Carolina to make sure we get the vaccinations and the infrastructure ready,” Smith said.
Reporter Zak Koeske contributed to this article.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 1:53 PM.
