Ag groups urge state governors to prioritize ag and food workers for vaccines

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Ag groups urge state governors to prioritize ag and food workers for vaccines

The National Pork Producers Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and North American Meat Institute are asking the nation’s 50 governors to prioritize coronavirus vaccines for ag and food workers, following healthcare workers and long-term care residents.  

In a letter to the governors, the group says meat and poultry workers and livestock producers have been on the front lines ensuring Americans have access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food.

NPPC, NCBA, and NAMI support the recommendation by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to prioritize healthcare workers and high-risk individuals. They say prioritizing meat industry workers and livestock suppliers next would address an industry that is part of the critical infrastructure and necessary to ensure animals are harvested and processed.

The Ag CEO Council shared a white paper of priorities with the Biden campaign that includes prioritizing vaccines for ag workers.

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says they told Biden’s transition team it’s critical that essential ag workers be included in the second tier of vaccine distributions.

“We just wanted to emphasize how important that is that after the needs of the workers on the frontline and the ones that are critical need to get that first, and then we need to make sure that we provide that for ag workers,” he says.

He says a lot of those decision will be made by governors which is why AFBF is asking state farm bureau organizations to contact state leaders and emphasize the importance of ag workers being prioritized for vaccines.  

The National Pork Producers Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and North American Meat Institute are also urging the federal government to prioritize these workers.