A worker is loading customer orders into a tractor trailer waiting in the Amazon’s million-square-foot distribution warehouse that opened last fall in Fall River, MA, on March 23, 2017.
John Tlumacki | Boston Globe | Getty Images
Some workers at Amazon warehouses will soon be able to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at work.
Amazon announced Thursday that it is setting up on-site vaccination clinics in Missouri fulfillment centers, followed by Nevada and Kansas in the coming weeks. At clinics, which are expected to operate for about five days, the vaccines will be administered to employees by authorized health care providers.
The company said it expects to launch vaccination clinics in additional warehouses across the country as more vaccine offerings become available to front-line employees in other states.
It is happening as the US continues to accelerate the pace of vaccinations, with the nation taking more than 2.5 million photos a day. Companies with key workers, including Amazon, have strived to give their workers priority access to photos.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued instructions that employers with a large workforce can start setting up Covid-19 vaccine clinics on the spot. Agricultural giant Cargill, Tyson Foods and some Detroit-based automakers and manufacturers are among a growing list of employers who have launched on-site clinics at some of their facilities.
Heather MacDougall, Amazon’s vice president of global health and safety at work, told CNBC in an interview that the company works with a third-party administrator who provides Covid vaccines on behalf of Amazon.
“Most of these talks take place at the local and state level where these decisions are made, as to who is eligible for the vaccine,” MacDougall added.
Some Amazon frontline workers have already been vaccinated in eligible states.
The company urged its front-line workers to get vaccinated off-site, giving them a bonus of up to $ 80 or $ 40 for each dose. Employees suffering from side effects from the Covid vaccine are eligible to take it free, free of charge, Amazon said.
Inside its warehouses, Amazon has taken steps to alleviate vaccine fears or concerns among front-line workers. In private Facebook groups, some employees at US warehouses have expressed skepticism and uncertainty about the vaccine’s side effects or the potential for Amazon to impose vaccinations on its workforce.
Amazon posted educational information and positive messages about the vaccine around the warehouses, including in the “INSTALLATIONS”, the information sheets posted in the bathrooms of the facility. A message viewed by CNBC told workers that the vaccine is “safe and effective” and is “the fastest way to return to normal.”
The company also sent a questionnaire to warehouse workers through Amazon Connections, an internal investigation system, to assess their attitude to the Covid vaccine and other coronavirus safety measures. A message to workers said that “Covid vaccines and regular testing of Covid can help keep you and those you care about safe,” workers with the option to answer “OK” or “I’d rather not answer.” “, According to a separate document viewed by CNBC.
Amazon is already seeing considerable interest in on-site vaccination clinics. More than 1,000 front-line employees signed up to get vaccinated at the first clinic on the Amazon site, in a warehouse outside St. Louis, Missouri, which opened Thursday, the company said.
– Bertha Coombs from CNBC contributed to the reporting of this article.