[ad_1]
As panicked Americans rid supermarkets of toilet paper and food last spring, grocery store workers have been recognized as one of the pandemic’s most needed frontline workers.
A year later, most of those workers are waiting their turn to receive COVID-19 vaccines, with little clarity as to when this could happen.
A decentralized vaccination campaign has resulted in a patchwork of policies that differ state-to-state, and even county-to-county in some areas, resulting in inconsistent deployment among low-paid essential workers who are at risk. to hundreds of customers every day.
“Apparently we are not front line workers when it comes to getting the vaccine. It was kind of a shock, ”said Dawn Hand, who works at a Kroger supermarket in Houston, where she said three of her colleagues were with the virus last week. She watches the others get vaccinated at the store pharmacy without knowing when she will have her turn.
Texas is among several states that have decided to leave grocery and other essential workers out of the second phase of its vaccination effort, prioritizing adults over 65 and those with chronic illnesses instead. .
Many epidemiologists argue that focusing on older adults is the most ethical and effective, as it will help reduce deaths and hospitalizations more quickly. People over 65 account for 80% of deaths in the country, according to the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention.
“Our primary goals with vaccines should be to reduce deaths and hospitalizations,” said William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. “To do this, we need to start vaccinating those who are most at risk.”
But many grocery store workers were surprised and disheartened to find that they were excluded from these policies, in part because a CDC panel raised their expectations by recommending the second phase of the vaccine rollout – 1B – including grocery store and other essential employees. .
Even when grocery store workers have priority, they still have to wait a long time. New York opened vaccines to grocery store workers in early January, as well as other essential workers and anyone 65 and over. But the limited supply makes it difficult to book an appointment, even more so for workers who don’t have large companies or unions to defend them.
Edward Lara had to shut down his small grocery store – known as a bodega – in the Bronx for 40 days when he and his employees contracted the virus last spring. He tried for weeks to get an appointment for a vaccine and finally figured out he could sign up through the website of a network of healthcare providers, who will let him know when it opens. of a niche.
Lara’s stepfather died from the virus in March. His mother-in-law passed away in November. Last week, a friend who manages his winery’s insurance policy also passed away. And a cousin from New Jersey caught the virus for the second time, leaving him terrified that it could happen to him.
“There is nothing to be done. Keep your fingers crossed and hope God protects me,” Lara said after putting herself on the waiting list.
Only 13 states currently allow grocery store workers to register for vaccines, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents 1.3 million U.S. grocery, meat and food workers. and other frontline workers.
Some states are still working through an initial phase that prioritizes health workers and residents of nursing homes. Many states have split the second phase into tiers that place grocery store workers lower than others, including people 65 and older, teachers, and first responders. Eleven states have no clear plan at all to prioritize grocery workers, according to study by United 4 Respect, a worker group that advocates for workers at Walmart, Amazon and other large retailers .
At MOM’s Organic Market, a 21-store grocery chain in the Mid-Atlantic region, chief culture officer Jon Croft initially believed the company’s 1,500 employees would be vaccinated by the end of the month. January. He now thinks it will be more March or April. The company was only able to pre-register workers at two stores in Maryland and two in Virginia.
“People think they deserve the opportunity to get vaccinated after being on the front lines,” Croft said. “Politicians and health officials sang the praises of the workers in the grocery store, but now they have remained silent.”
Major food retailers say they are doing their part to get their workers vaccinated. Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, said it has vaccinated Illinois employees since they became eligible, but grocery store workers are not yet eligible in most jurisdictions in which the company operates. Target and Walmart also said they will offer vaccines to their workers at their own pharmacies as soon as they become eligible.
Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Target, and the online delivery service Instacart have offered bonuses or additional paid time off to workers who get vaccinated.
When the Lidl grocery chain learned from Suffolk County on Long Island that it would be receiving appointments for its local workers, it immediately reached out to those it knew to be most at risk. So far, more than 100 Suffolk County employees have been vaccinated.
Joseph Lupo, a Lidl supervisor who fell ill with the virus in March, is one of them.
“I don’t want to ever have COVID again or see someone else get it,” said Lupo, 59.
But for many grocery store workers, the realization that they won’t be eligible anytime soon adds to the feeling of being consumable. They fought a mostly lost battle for the risk premium, which a handful of companies offered in the spring but which ended despite multiple resurgences of the virus.
A year after the start of the pandemic, some buyers still refuse to wear masks and managers often do not force them to follow the rules.
“There are people who come in and wear a mask halfway through or take it off as soon as they walk in the door,” said Drew Board, who makes $ 13.50 an hour taking care of orders. grocery pickup at a Walmart in Albemarle, North Carolina. . “I politely ask them to bring it up and they do, and then back down when they walk away.”
Francisco Marte, president of the Bodega and Small Business Association in New York City, said he has told his own workers not to risk their lives facing buyers who do not wear masks. In August, an angry customer slashed thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise at a Bronx bodega after being asked to wear a mask.
“This should be the job of the police,” said Marte, whose organization handed out 150,000 free masks in the spring when they were scarce. “I tell the employees, keep your distance and wear your mask, but don’t put yourself in danger because we are the ones who lose.”
Marte said he had pressured local officials to have vaccine appointments canceled for workers at the bodega, many of whom are unaware they are eligible. He hopes the recent opening of a large vaccination site at Yankee Stadium will make access easier.
The virus, meanwhile, continues its march in grocery stores.
In the past two months, there have been 137 outbreaks of COVID-19 in grocery stores across Southern California and 500 grocery store workers in Houston have been infected, according to the UFCW. The union knows 124 grocery workers who have died since the start of the pandemic.
Debbie Whipple, head of digitization at a Kroger in Fayetteville, Ga., Said her union UFWC Local 1996 doesn’t expect Georgia to open up vaccines to grocery store workers until April at the earliest. .
“We have to be here, just like a firefighter and a policeman because people need food,” said Whipple, who described the frustration of seeing customers regularly walking around with bare feet and refusing offers of free masks. “We should get the vaccine.”
___
Phoenix Associate Press Editor Anita Snow contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link