Meat, Poultry, Farm Workers High Priority for Vaccine

Clint Thompson Coronavirus, Pork, Poultry

Federal guidance suggests essential workers should be next to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, including meat packers and farm workers. A Centers for Disease Control advisory committee voted in favor of a blueprint for essential workers and people older than 75 as recipients of the vaccine in the next phase.

Potts

In a news release, North American Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts says, “Priority access to vaccines is a critical step for the long-term safety of the selfless frontline meat and poultry workers who have kept America’s refrigerators full and our farm economy working.”

She says $1.5 billion in COVID-19 preventions and supports implemented since the earliest days of the pandemic have reversed COVID-19’s impact on meat and poultry workers. Potts adds Meat Institute members stand ready to support vaccination for a diverse workforce, which will also deliver wide-ranging health benefits in rural and high-risk communities.

Food and agriculture workers are considered essential workers, along with energy, trade, retail and others.

(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)