FEELING FORGOTTEN
Vaccine delays leave grocery workers waiting on their turn
As panicked Americans cleared supermarkets of toilet paper and food last spring, grocery employees gained recognition as among the most indispensable of the pandemic’s front-line workers.
A year later, most of those workers are waiting their turn to receive COVID-19 vaccines. A decentralized vaccine campaign has resulted in a patchwork of policies that differ from state to state, and even county to county in some areas, resulting in an inconsistent rollout to low-paid essential workers who are exposed to hundreds of customers each day.
“Apparently we are not front-line workers when it comes to getting the vaccine. That was kind of a shock,” said Dawn Hand, who works at a Kroger supermarket in Houston, where she said three of her co-workers were out with the virus last week.
Many grocery workers have been surprised and disheartened to find that they’ve been left out of such policies, in part because a CDC panel raised hopes by recommending the second phase of the vaccine rollout include grocery and other essential employees. Even when grocery workers are prioritized, they still face long waits.
Only 13 states are currently allowing grocery workers to sign up for vaccines, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents 1.3 million U.S. grocery, meatpacking and other front-line workers. Some states are still working through an initial phase that prioritizes health workers and nursing home residents.
Many states have divided the second phase into tiers that put grocery workers lower than others, including people 65 and over, teachers and first responders. Eleven states have no clear plan for prioritizing grocery workers at all, according to research from United 4 Respect, a labor group that advocates for workers at major retailers. In New Mexico’s plan, grocery store workers are included in the current phase — along with teachers, police, firefighters and other groups — but are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.
For many grocery workers, the realization that they won’t be eligible any time soon adds to the sense of being expendable. They have fought a mostly losing battle for hazard pay, which a handful of companies offered in the spring but ended despite multiple resurgences of the virus.
A year into the pandemic, some shoppers still refuse to wear masks and managers often don’t force them to follow the rules.
Francisco Marte, president of the Bodega and Small Business Association of New York, said he tells his own workers not to risk their lives confronting shoppers who won’t wear masks. In August, an angry customer slashed thousands of dollars worth of goods at a Bronx bodega after being asked to wear a mask.
“It should be the job of the police,” he said. “I tell the employees, keep your distance and wear your mask but don’t put yourself in danger.