Many states are prioritizing food system workers for early access to any Covid-19 vaccine, and experts say officials should begin outreach to workers now to overcome any trust, language, and access barriers, writes Leah Douglas in FERN’s latest story.
A vaccine may be made available to farmworkers and meat and food processing workers in early 2021, according to plans submitted by states to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-October. But some food system workers, who have already labored for months at high risk of contracting the virus, may be wary of accepting a vaccine in the absence of targeted outreach from “trusted messengers” and ample information about any vaccine’s potential risks, say public health and labor advocates.
“If it wasn’t clear already, it is now, that these workers feel that they’re expendable and that they’re just being used for their labor,” says Edgar Franks, political director at the farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia. “They definitely don’t want to be put in that situation again if a vaccine comes along,” he added, with some fearing “they’re going to try it out on them to make sure it’s going to be safe for everybody else.”
The food industry has lobbied federal and state officials for months to get workers early access to a vaccine. But experts say a vaccine shouldn’t be seen as a panacea, and should be coupled with other workplace protections as new cases and outbreaks continue to be reported. As of Nov. 9, over 72,500 food system workers have contracted Covid-19 and at least 327 have died, according to FERN’s tracker.
“Protections are important, and that includes a vaccine,” says Alexis Guild, director of health policy and programs at Farmworker Justice. “But also, a vaccine doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t still be protections in place at the workplace to protect workers from Covid.”