Grocery Workers in Oregon Feel Back When It Comes to COVID-19 Vaccinations

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) – Some essential workers, such as at your grocery store, say that they feel they are still pushing back to get their vaccine, despite the possible exposure to the virus every day.

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), local 555, represents 29,000 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington; it says about 28,000 of them are essential. The union says it is disappointed with the Oregon vaccination and wants the state to choose to prioritize essential workers according to CDC guidelines.

The union adds that many of its members work in grocery stores or food processing plants and that they are afraid to go to work and catch the virus and bring it home to family members.

‘Although they are forced to come face to face with this virus every day, they have not been moved to the front of the line or near the front of the line when it comes to vaccinations. “So they run the risk, they go to work and are coughed and have to deal with customers who do not want to wear masks, but they have not been moved to the right level,” said Dan Clay, the president. of UFCW local 555.

Gov. Oregon’s Kate Brown said she hears the concerns of essential workers but asks them to be patient while educators are envisioned. The date on which essential workers are to be vaccinated has not yet been determined.

Clay says he was happy to see essential workers on a list of about 1.25 million people who would get the vaccine to the elderly, but still feels they should have had a higher priority.