SLO County will start vaccinating farmworkers in pilot project mid-March
–This week, the San Luis Obispo County COVID-19 Task Force approved a plan drafted by SLO County Farm Bureau to begin vaccinating farmworkers in mid-March. This effort will start with a pilot project at the county’s vaccine clinic site in South County. The Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, local agriculture industry leaders, farm labor contractors, healthcare partners, County staff, and the SLO County Farmworker Task Force provided feedback and direction.
The task force says it will prioritize getting the most workers vaccinated as quickly as possible by working with employers and labor contractors to coordinate scheduling blocks of appointments specifically for agriculture employees.
The goal is to vaccinate farmworkers at the clinic with Spanish and Mixteco translation and multicultural support in partnership with Promotores, Herencia Indigena, and CHC Health Educators. Many have asked about mobile, on-farm vaccine sites, and they say they expect this will eventually be a pivotal part of our efforts, but at this stage, there is not enough vaccines to fully utilize the county’s three established vaccine sites.
The pilot will begin mid-March and aim to vaccinate 500-600 farm workers in one day.
The plan is a starting point and will continue to be refined and expanded in collaboration with partners. The plan does not include other parts of the food/ag sector at this time, but we will get there as soon as possible.
As SLO County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein explained at Wednesday’s news briefing (the ag portion comes up at the 18 minute mark), the county is still a ways away from completing the 65+ age category that is currently eligible for the vaccine. That situation could quickly change if more vaccines become available.
Some other counties and states are further along vaccinating the ag industry than SLO county is. Every county has a unique situation, whether it’s the quantity of vaccines received or the approach taken by local governments to prioritize distribution. While farmworkers and other essential industry workers are at a greater risk of being exposed to the coronavirus, age is the greatest predictor of death or serious illness from COVID-19. This is one of the primary reasons SLO County has gone with an age-based, rather than occupation-based, distribution.
Notes for ag employers:
- The CDC has released a new “Essential Workers COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit – Information for Employers and Employees” guidance document.
- If your agriculture business has not already done so, please complete the Farm Bureau’s COVID-19 Vaccine Survey for Ag Employers so the county and it’s partners can coordinate with you as these pilot projects are expanded to accommodate larger numbers of workers and reach other parts of the county.
- Subscribe to the SLO County Public Health Department’s email newsletter and encourage your agriculture colleagues to subscribe to the Farm Bureau weekly newsletter here.
- Get familiar with the legal issues around vaccinating your workforce. California Farm Bureau’s Farm Employers Labor Service presented an informative webinar this week, “A Shot in the Arm: Cal/OSHA and Employment Law Issues Related to the COVID-19 Vaccine.” View a video of the webinar here; and download the presentation slides here.
For input and questions, email Brent at bburchett@slofarmbureau.org or call (805) 543-3654.
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