As the coronavirus pandemic progressed in 2020, America faced a phenomenon at odds with our image as a “land of plenty” — empty store shelves and limits on food purchases.
Nearly a year later, with a vaccine rollout and a new variant strain making its way around the world, we’re not out of the woods yet — and our food supply chain needs attention if we are to avoid a repeat of last year.
The country got a lot of wake-up calls last year, and the vital role workers play in keeping food on the nation’s tables was one of them.
Meatpacking plants were especially hard hit. As workers trimmed meat standing side-by-side, COVID-19 spread unabated. Plants had to shutter, production slowed precipitously and supermarket meat aisles reflected a supply chain in distress. Many stores imposed a limit on how much meat shoppers could buy.
How are we holding up in the new year?
That depends.
As we’ve seen, distribution plans for the vaccines have been less than stellar. According to the latest CDC data, the U.S. has delivered over 31.1 million vaccine doses across the country so far, but only 12.3 million people have been inoculated.
Worse, vaccination guidelines have led to thousands of doses being thrown out because of a lack of patients fitting particular criteria. The vaccines have a short shelf life.
Limited doses and scattershot distribution is not boding well for food workers.
As Politico reported, CDC guidelines designate meat processing, grocery store and food and agriculture workers as “non-health care frontline essential workers,” part of the second tier of vaccine priority, or “Phase 1b.”
The government is giving states the authority to put together their own plans and timelines. In Massachusetts, such workers are in the state’s Phase 2, due for inoculation in February and March. But not all our food comes from the Bay State, and other states have left out agriculture workers completely in their vaccine plans.
Oregon was one of the first states to see large outbreaks of COVID-19 among such workers — but it has not designated them within the order of vaccine distribution, according to Politico. Food processing is the third-ranking manufacturing activity in the state, churning out frozen fruits and vegetables, baked goods, beverages and canned goods.
Other large agriculture states like Florida and Texas also didn’t specify when food sector workers can get the vaccine.
Meat packing plants have stepped up on their own.
Keira Lombardo, chief administrative officer for Smithfield Foods, said the company already has medical sites at its plants and expects vaccines will be available for distribution to critical workers within 60 days, though the situation varies by state.
Tyson Foods is teaming up with clinical services provider Matrix Medical Network to deploy “mobile health clinics” at slaughterhouses to administer vaccines.
This is great — but companies shouldn’t have to take the DIY route to getting workers vaccinated, especially those whose job it is to keep the food supply chain ticking.
President-elect Joe Biden put a lot on his Day One to-do list — here’s another: Make food supply workers a vaccine priority, help companies set up their own vaccine sites if that is most efficient, and pull out the stops to keep food workers safe, and the country fed.
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