Good news! It looks like agriculture workers will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 1. Governor Whitmer’s office sent out a statement on next steps including this:
- Additionally, workers in food processing and agricultural settings, about 79,000 Michiganders, will be able to be vaccinated as of March 1. This will help ensure the health and safety of Michigan’s essential food and agriculture workers and keep the state’s food supply chain moving.
I believe this would include greenhouse workers as stated in the Michigan Farm News this week. The following is from the article:
According to Ben Tirrell, associate legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau, the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan tries to balance health risks while maintaining essential services to the broader population.
Tirrell said the CDC definition of food and agricultural workers includes almost all associated input supply, farm or greenhouse labor, transportation, and processing and retail workers associated with the human and animal food systems.
This is a great step in protecting the workers that are so important to the greenhouse industry. Your employees should be able to start signing up with their local health departments soon.
Please make sure you still follow the CDC guidelines for protecting workers and customers in your greenhouses until this is over. If you are having trouble locating supplies of PPE, give Cindy or me a call and we will see if we can help you locate what you need.
Goeff Hansen
Executive Director
231-301-4888 | Mainstreet@sbam.org
Author: Cindy Ray
Cindy has years of experience in association management and administrative support.
