Vaccination Rates Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Despite the negative reports you hear about low vaccination rates in rural communities, the seasonal foreign farmworkers on H-2A visas are NOT who they’re talking about.
WAFLA CEO Dan Fazio says they’ve been working to minimize the impact of COVID since last year and their vaccination rate shows it …
FAZIO … “Medical Teams International does the vaccinations along with all of the local health jurisdictions and all of the farmworker clinics. They’re all reporting the same thing, 95% plus.”
Fazio says they’ve been up front with potential workers …
FAZIO … “What we do with the H-2A workers is, when we’re recruiting them in Mexico, we make sure that they know that the expectation is that they’re going to be tested as soon as they get there. And then, if they test negative, then they’re going to be vaccinated and if they’re not okay with that, this is not a job that they should be applying for.”
It’s a system, Fazio says that’s worked …
FAZIO … “Again, it just demonstrates the advantage of the H-2A program, you know, a well-regulated program where workers have a visa and they’re anxious to comply with all the rules.”
The process to get the vaccinations, Fazio says has been pretty smooth …
FAZIO … “We contacted Medical Teams International, who has these traveling testing machines and they said they were on. They just needed funding. We contacted the Department of Health and the Department of Health said they had the funding.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the successful vaccination rate among H-2A workers … and the role WAFLA played in that.
