Agencies partner with Safeway to provide vaccines for San Benito County food, agriculture workers

SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif. (KION) San Benito County Health Services and the Grower Shipper Association of Central California announced that they are partnering with Safeway to provide COVID-19 vaccines to food and agriculture workers in San Benito County.

County officials said food and agricultural workers who live or work in San Benito County can register though a bilingual vaccine interest portal, and when the vaccines are available, GSA and Safeway will schedule vaccine clinics.

When clinics are scheduled, county officials say those who registered will be contacted directly or through their employer to schedule a vaccine.

The vaccines will be available by appointment only, and immigration status will not be asked or recorded.

“Providing vaccines to essential employees in the agriculture and food sector requires an all hands-on-deck approach, involving both the employer as well as employees to ensure an efficient administration,” said GSA President Christopher Valadez. “We knew this would take coordination, so we began working with local health departments on vaccination systems a few weeks ago in anticipation of counties moving into Phase 1B.”

Those interested can find a link to the vaccine interest portal here.

The county said it is also coordinating with the emergency services, education and childcare sectors to provide vaccines for their employees,