Starbucks is giving free coffee to health care workers this month

(CNN) Health care workers are getting a special treat this month.

Starbucks will be giving away free cups of coffee to health care workers and first responders who have been working during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It has been an extraordinarily difficult year, especially for the front-line responders who are serving our communities," Virginia Tenpenny, Starbucks vice president for global social impact, said in a news release. "We want to show our deep gratitude for those who support and protect us every day with a small gesture of kindness and a cup of coffee."

Until the end of December, a customer "who identifies as a front-line responder to the COVID-19 outbreak" can walk into any Starbucks in the US and receive a free tall brewed coffee, hot or iced. The giveaway also extends to other hospital staff, like janitors and security, mental health workers and active-duty military.

The new promotion is an extension of a previous giveaway aimed at health care workers on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic. From late March until May, Starbucks vowed to give one free cup of coffee to health care workers. By the end of April, the chain said that it had already given away more than 1 million cups and claims that that number has since doubled to over 2 million.

These giveaways are the latest in a string of actions the coffee chain has rolled out during the pandemic, including a $100,000 donation to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and a public promise to give care packages and gift cards to 50,000 frontline responders.