MORGAN HILL, Calif. (AP) – California farm workers lined up for the coronavirus vaccine at a mobile clinic that organizers hope will be a model for reaching a community that has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
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About 1,000 workers from various farms are expected to receive injections on Sunday and Wednesday at the Monterey Mushrooms facility on Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County health officials said.
“The best way to honor our frontline employees is what we are doing today, which is to vaccinate them,” said county supervisor Cindy Chavez at the site in a rural area south of the San Francisco bay area. .
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the county’s first mobile vaccine clinic targeted farmers to meet the state’s newly expanded eligibility, which includes workers in the education, emergency services and food and agriculture sectors. County officials hope to move close to a location in the Gilroy agricultural area, the newspaper said.
The United Farm Workers union has joined the county and Monterey Mushrooms, a longtime agricultural producer, in partnership to organize Sunday’s event.
Rural workers have been one of the most affected communities since the start of the pandemic. A study by the University of California at Berkeley found that 13% of Salinas Valley farmers tested positive for coronavirus between mid-July and November. In comparison, only 5% of Californians in general tested positive between the beginning of the pandemic in March and November, according to the Chronicle.
At least 35 of the state’s 58 counties have started vaccinating education workers, the governor’s office said last week.
San Diego County officials announced that the COVID-19 vaccines would be open this weekend to people in emergency services, childcare and education, and food and agriculture.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s vaccination prioritization plan also includes guardians, administrators, food and bus officials and other employees who are working in schools or expect to be in school in the next three weeks.
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