(a) In addition to health promotion and vaccine registration activities of the department, a statewide immunization program is established in the department for the purpose of monitoring, purchasing, and distributing included vaccines to providers approved by the department who agree to provide the included vaccines to state residents under terms consistent with the program and state and federal law.
(b) The commissioner shall
(1) establish a procedure that provides for participation by an assessable entity;
(2) maintain a list of recommended vaccines for inclusion in the program;
(3) for each included vaccine, establish the initial vaccine assessment for the first year of the program and thereafter make annual assessments based on the determinations made by the council established under AS 18.09.210;
(4) notify assessable entities and other program participants of the annual vaccine assessment for each vaccine included in the program;
(5) devise a method for crediting to assessable entities and other program participants overpayments of vaccine assessments made for reasons related to administrative error, program termination, or lower than anticipated actual usage of the program by covered individuals;
(6) coordinate collective purchases of included vaccines;
(7) establish a procedure for statewide distributions of vaccines purchased under the program; and
(8) review vaccine assessment appeals for error.