Frontline meat and poultry workers should be included in the next phase of large-scale coronavirus vaccinations in the US, according to guidelines approved by a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advisory committee.
The committee recommendations include food and agriculture employees in a category of 30 million frontline essential workers that should receive priority in the second round of vaccinations, alongside firefighters, police and teachers.
Such workers were deemed “essential to the functioning of society and at substantially higher risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2”. According to the report, half of the mentioned essential workers are older than 40 years. Those aged 75 years and older are also included in phase 1b of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Employees at meat processing plants will therefore be first in line to be vaccinated after health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, who started receiving the vaccines last week.
The recommendations come after a number of outbreaks at meat processing plants during the spring, resulting in shutdowns and temporary meat shortages. These included the likes of Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and Cargill.
During this period, US president Donald Trump issued an executive order to force meat processing plants to stay open in a bid to protect the US food supply, however he received backlash voicing concerns that workers would face greater risk from the virus.
Since then, the North American Meat Institute says $1.5 billion in Covid-19 preventions and supports have been implemented – such as personal protective equipment, health and temperature screening and enhanced air sanitation and ventilation – and have reversed the virus’ impact on meat and poultry workers.
Nevertheless, US states can still set their own priorities for vaccination tranches. The North American Meat Institute called the recommendation a critical step for the long-term safety of employees and urged state governments to follow CDC’s decision.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024
