Micheal Clements, NAFB News Service

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