California farm workers, teachers, grocery store workers could get next COVID-19 vaccines

(KION) In a press briefing Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom said farm workers, teachers and grocery store workers are under consideration to receive the next COVID-19 vaccine after health care workers in California.

The state’s Community Vaccine Advisory Committee is discussing who will be the next recipients and held a meeting Wednesday to go over the possibilities.

In the meeting, the California's Vaccine Drafting Guidelines Workgroup identified three groups as being the "leading candidates" to receive the vaccine in "Phase 1B."

• Education and child care workers
• Emergency Services
• Food and agricultural workers

They would still need to determine what subgroups in the sectors would be prioritized. For example, police and firefighters are part of the "emergency services" group, and teachers from preschool through college are part of the education group.

The workgroup is going off of criteria recommended by the advisory committee:

• Societal impact of the job
• Impact on economy
• Equity
• Occupational exposure

"When you look at those four areas, that is how we are going to determine how we rank them. That is what the drafting guidelines group did," said Dr. Oliver Brooks, the Co-Chair of the Drafting Guidelines Workgroup. "Someone that may have societal impact may also be high on the equity index and be exposed. They match 3 out of four, so we understand that when we did our deliberations."

The committee is meeting again on the 23rd. This gives them a chance to see potential recommendations from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is meeting on the 19th.

There’s been a big push on the Central Coast to make sure farm workers are next in line.

Field laborers have been out in the fields since the start of the pandemic, harvesting food for the community.

They’re considered essential workers and the United Farm Workers union believes that they need to be next in line for the COVID vaccine.

“Farm workers cannot be just essential to pick up the crop. They need to be essential in getting the vaccine and a lot of other benefits,” United Farm Workers National Vice President Lauro Barajas, who is also the regional director for the Central Coast, said.

The agriculture community has been hit hard by the pandemic. Data from the health department shows about 17 percent of COVID-19 cases in Monterey County come from the ag industry, making it the hardest hit sector.

Their close proximity in the fields, transport, and housing services makes them more at risk for contracting the virus, so county leaders and organizations have been pushing for them to get priority.

“They’re at greatest risk and we know that when they go home–and many who live in congregate living conditions not only put themselves at risk, but their loved ones,” Monterey County District 1 Supervisor Luis Alejo said. “As they roll out a vaccination program, it should reflect some sort of priority given to them considering how important they are to our food supply.”

As the state’s Community Vaccine Advisory Committee meets over zoom this week, they’ll also be considering teachers in the phase 1B.

California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd understands the need to put health care workers first.

“Without them, a lot more people would probably not be surviving this COVID-19 situation. By the educators being in 1B, we’re okay with that because it allows us to start to process in order to get back into the schools,” Boyd said.

But he adds the vaccine itself is not going to be enough.

“We’re going to still need our PPE, the ventilation, the social distancing, the wearing of masks, the tracing, the testing. So all of those things are going to still need to be in place in order for it to truly be safe for our students and our educators,” Boyd said. “Our educators want to be back in the classroom, we miss our students.”

At the committee meeting Wednesday afternoon, the moderator listed dozens of industries that sent requests to the committee to be included in the next round, including public transportation, court, and airport workers. 

The committee is expected to continue discussions this weekend.