There are about 57 million Americans who live in rural communities. 

“This population plays an important role in food and energy production, while serving as an integral part of the national economy,” officials at the Department of Health and Human Services stated in a recent white paper that studied rural health.

It’s that sentiment that is moving farmers and agricultural workers up the priority lists of state health officials charged with distributing the coronavirus vaccinations.

Regarding prioritizing the groups of people who should get the coronavirus vaccination first, second, and so on, state health department officials are coordinating with federal officials in Operation Warp Speed.

Operation Warp Speed’s goal is to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021, as part of a broader strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (collectively known as countermeasures), according to the HHS.gov website.

As states, this week, receive their first doses of the federally regulated COVID-19 vaccine, many governors and state agriculture department officials are pushing for the people who work in agribusinesses and food production to be classified as essential infrastructure workers.

South Carolina

Eva Moore, South Carolina Dept. of Agriculture communications director, says the state’s protocol for distributing the coronavirus vaccine is being coordinated by the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

To rollout the vaccine, DHEC has an advisory committee and is using federal guidance.

Following the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine to hospitals and long-term healthcare workers, critical infrastructure workers will be offered the vaccine.

“Agriculture is considered a critical infrastructure, by federal definition,” Moore says.

When the coronavirus was really heating up (in April), resulting in community lockdowns and curfews, there was concern that the agricultural sector wouldn’t be able to transport food across state lines and poultry plant workers couldn’t get to work safely. 

“So, these definitions of who is a critical infrastructure worker became really important. So, we are seeing that again now. Those people in agriculture and other critical industries are going to be given a greater priority for getting a vaccination,” Moore says.

In a press conference Wednesday, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster told reporters that the second group of vaccine recipients are those who are providing services for the public.

“First responders, fire and law enforcement, utility workers, water, trash, waste removal, bus drivers, Dept. of Transportation workers, agribusiness and food production workers. We have to keep those who are providing the food, providing the food for the rest of us,” Governor McMaster says. 

Also, people in congregate settings (group homes, jails, and detention centers homeless shelters, etc.) are in this second group getting the vaccine, Governor McMaster stated.

The others included in this phase 1-B group can be found here. 

North Carolina

As of Thursday, the state of North Carolina has received its first 85,400 vaccine doses for distribution.

Healthcare workers will be prioritized in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine allocations.

On Thursday, Mandy Cohen, Secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters that workers who have direct exposure to COVID-19, as they do their daily jobs, would get vaccinated first.

“That has been the recommendation from many advisory committees both on the state and federal levels,” Cohen says.

Cohen failed to indicate when North Carolina farmers and the agricultural industry will get priority, instead focused on the broader steps of carrying out the distribution of the vaccine. 

“We want as many people in North Carolina to get vaccinated as possible. But we know that it’s going to take sometime. We know that we will have limited vaccine supplies, at first.

So, we don’t know when the vaccine will be widely available to the general public,” Dr. Cohen says.

She added, “It is not going to be in the early part of 2021. I think it will be in the springtime before the vaccine will be widely available across our state for everyone. We’re going to have to continue to social distance, wearing our masks, washing our hands, as we ramp up this vaccine effort.”

Meanwhile, Cohen was asked to address the concerns of the Latino population (of which many are involved in the agricultural sector) deciding to not get vaccinated to avoid having their contact information shared into the vaccine database and used by federal immigration authorities.

“We take privacy concerns very seriously," Cohen says. "I would say to our Hispanic and Latino communities, who I know have more concerns about their information, that we don’t want this to stop them from getting this potentially lifesaving vaccine. This is not information that is going to be shared beyond healthcare providers. We have very specific data-use agreements with those who are only able to use this information for clinical purposes.”

Cohen added, “This information is only used to help us follow up with people to make sure that they get their second doses. So, we do need to collect contact information for reminders.”

Iowa

In Iowa, the state’s Infectious Disease Advisory Committee (IDAC) is charged with addressing questions on priority groups to receive the vaccine.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says that he will be recommending to the IDAC that food and agricultural workers are considered as essential workers.

When Secretary Naig looks at the food and agricultural sector and who should get priority for the vaccine, it’s the meat processing workers and ag retail workers.

“Those are the people who need priority for this vaccine. They are the ones who come to mind,” Secretary Naig told Successful Farming. 

Secretary Naig admits that it’s very logical that the frontline healthcare workers should be first to get the vaccine. 

“But whenever it is available to farmers and others in agriculture, I would encourage them to take the vaccine. Farmers are part of the very important supply chain and frankly, spring is not that far away and we should be thinking that far ahead. Much like last year, when we encouraged farmers to take care of themselves so that they could take care of their livestock and get their crops in the ground, my message is the same headed into this spring,” Secretary Naig says.

Naig added, “Farmers should take every step to take care of themselves and their employees and now that means taking the (coronavirus) vaccine.”

Meanwhile, this week, the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) urged the nation’s governors to highly prioritize COVID-19 vaccination for workers in the meat and poultry industry, following healthcare workers and those in long-term care facilities.

“The systems are in place. The workers are part of the critical infrastructure and the [states] depend on these people to supply and process livestock so agricultural communities can thrive.  For these reasons we respectfully request that, as you plan for the distribution of the vaccine, meatpacking workers, USDA inspectors, and livestock producers be given high priority to receive vaccinations,” the ag groups stated in their letter to each governor.