Employees at the Cargill meat processing plant will begin receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations this week at the facility just north of High River – eight days after an initial attempt was put on hold due to a lack of Moderna doses.
Dr. Adam Vyse said he is confident the vaccination team will regain the confidence of employees working at Cargill despite the initial postponement.
“We managed to get the message out as quickly as possible through the worker community that we have promised this clinic, we backed this clinic, this is just a delay it is not a cancellation,” Vyse said. “We were able to say trust us… We just needed the supply and the backing and we got that today.
“That’s fantastic.”
The Cargill plant had one of the largest outbreaks in North America in April of 2020, which gained international attention. More than 900 of the 2,000 employees tested positive for COVID.
There were three deaths linked to the outbreak.
Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced on April 26 more than 15,000 workers at all federal and certified meat plants in the province are eligible for vaccinations.
“Meat packing plants were identified as an eligible group under Phase 2C of the rollout, but limited supply delayed this step until now,” Kenney said in a press conference. “I am glad that Alberta is able to offer vaccines to these hard-working people who contribute to our entire country’s food system."
The vaccinations at Cargill will take place April 29 to May 1 at the plant. Vyse estimates 1,600 of the approximately 2,000 employees have registered for their shots.
“We know this population would rather be vaccinated with people they know and trust,” Vyse said. “For them the health staff at Cargill, plus the docs coming to help out, this is really a safe place for them.”
He added several Cargill employees may fall in age and health brackets which would allow them to have already been vaccinated.
The Cargill vaccination clinics will take place during the two eight-hour work shifts on Thursday and Friday.
“We are pretty sure we can get through everybody in 2 ½ days,” Vyse said. “We are doing both shifts on Thursday and Friday and we are doing it on Saturday to make sure we get the maintenance crew.”
He is supervising on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift on Thursday and Friday – and he is delighted to put in a late shift.
Vyse, a family doctor in High River who lived in the community before moving to Foothills County, saw first-hand the impact COVID had on the community 22km south of Okotoks.
“The symbolism of Cargill being one of the first mass vaccinations sites at a plant, with the community co-ordination that we have on the anniversary of the outbreak a year ago, which was so traumatic, it is not lost on me,” Vyse said. “This has been a hard year on everyone. I am thinking of those who have lost loved ones to COVID – some of them right here in High River.
"We are doing this with them in our hearts.”
He said there isn’t a day goes by in which he doesn’t think of Benito Quesada, 51, a Cargill employee who died from COVID during the first wave.
“This (the vaccination clinics) has given us something that we can do after a year of working to battle this thing that was so hard,” Vyse said. “Coming up with innovative solutions and connections just to make it a little better until we got to this point.
“Here we are and it is fantastic.”
He said Cargill has been vital in getting the vaccinations to the plant.
“They understood what we were after and we had common goals,” Vyse said. “I think moving forward this could be a new way of doing things between industry and the health community.
"This is a model that will gain traction across the country.”
