‘People have to eat’: Farm workers now eligible for coronavirus vaccine
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GOLDSBORO, North Carolina (WRAL) — North Carolina farmers and farm workers are among the workers classified as essential by the state who are now eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine shot.
“Farmers are important,” Melissa Howell, who helps run the family-owned Howell Farming Co. in Wayne County, said Tuesday. “People have to eat. They have to have food.”
The eligibility comes at a critical time, with winter crops being harvested and summer crops being planted.
Howell Farming, which produces watermelons and sweet potatoes for both domestic and international markets, is helping its workers make vaccination appointments, she said.
“If we would have had an outbreak and we would have to shut down, the grocery stores couldn’t have gotten their sweet potatoes and their watermelons,” Howell said. “You don’t know, day to day, who could get sick and be out for two weeks. It just kind of eases our minds that we can start operating somewhat normal again.”
The company has around 50 workers now, but by May, it will have hired more than 100 seasonal workers.
Howell said the operation is working to make sure all of the workers know their options for getting vaccinated.
“Agriculture is a huge business for us here in eastern North Carolina, so we want to make sure that our ag family is taken care of,” Wayne County spokesman Joel Gillie said, adding that participation among area farms is high.
County staff is working with several partners, including United Way, to make sure that seasonal farm workers who come from other countries are educated about the vaccine and clinic options, Gillie said.
The North Carolina Growers Association told WRAL News that, for seasonal workers, education starts in their home countries and in their native languages. Officials said they want to make sure that a language barrier doesn’t prevent workers from getting the vaccine.
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