Alberta government postpones vaccination of meatpacking plant workers
The outbreak of infection and the death of a factory worker did not serve as a reason to accelerate the vaccination process.
Workers at the Cargill meat processing plant in High River are losing hope of getting the vaccine. Three people died at this plant last spring and about a thousand workers, along with their families, tested positive for COVID-19.
Another outbreak this year has claimed the lives of ten more people. Despite the tragic consequences, the Alberta provincial government has been slow to take action. Such inaction undermines the already shaky confidence of workers.
The clinic at the plant site was scheduled to begin April 22 and immunize more than 2,000 workers. However, Alberta Health said the event has been postponed due to a delay in delivery of 64,000 doses of Moderna vaccine originally scheduled for this week.
Currently, anyone over the age of 40, regardless of where they work, can make an appointment with the province for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, and people with eligible health conditions or over the age of 65 can make an appointment for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (Moderna).
1,600 workers at a meat processing plant signed up for a local clinic and never waited for centralized vaccinations from the company.
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