It has been nearly a year since my first post about the COVID-19 outbreak and how inspirational it was to watch grocery and pharmacy employees step up as essential workers and put themselves at an increased risk of exposure, to ensure that families can put food on the table and access life-saving medications.
As we all watch the challenges and complexity with the vaccine rollout, these workers continue to be at risk everyday as they work hard in stores to keep up with grocery demand – and vaccination timelines are being pushed later and later or scrapped altogether. This is especially apparent in California, where Simbe is based, with the reopening of the state coming as essential workers find it even harder to receive the vaccine.
Today, grocery store workers are among the groups with the highest risk of being exposed to the virus, with more uncontrolled person-to-person contact and less access to PPE than hospital workers. It’s why at least 170 grocery employees have died and thousands more have tested positive for COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. One study found that grocery store workers had a significantly higher rate of infection than people living in the surrounding communities.
America’s 2.4 million grocery store workers are on the front lines every day. And yet, today a significant portion of them aren’t eligible to be vaccinated.
In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended making frontline essential workers eligible for the vaccine right after health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities. But in January, the federal government changed course, encouraging states to focus on older adults instead of frontline workers. As a result, grocery store workers in 37 states still aren’t eligible to be vaccinated, with no clear timetable for when that might change.
There are other benefits to vaccinating grocery store workers beyond their own safety. Hy-Vee, a leading supermarket chain in the midwest, has partnered with the state of Illinois and distribute vaccines to local residents -- reaching more people in rural areas and easing the strain on the local health department.
For all these reasons, states should move grocery store employees and other essential workers to the front of the line. And in the meantime, retailers need to take steps to make it easier for employees to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Both Trader Joe’s and Dollar General are already offering incentives for employees to get vaccinated, and Instacart is giving workers who fill grocery store orders a stipend for the time they take off.
Retail store workers have been there for us during the darkest days of the pandemic. Now it’s our turn to be there for them. States across the country should do the right thing and give grocery store workers the priority they deserve and the protection they’ve earned.
