Having trouble getting the Covid vaccine? Your company may offer it soon.

AbbVie Pharmaceutical Company Inc.

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began offering staff at its North Chicago headquarters, according to people familiar with the problem, giving priority to those over the age of 65 and then to operations and production workers. Abbott Laboratories ABT 1.07%

also began giving doses at its headquarters to eligible workers such as production, food and child care workers, a spokeswoman and Tyson Foods said. Inc.

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delivered doses to beef factory staff in Joslin, Illinois, and to Iowa workers, a spokesman said.

Other large companies registered to offer doses include energy giant Exxon Mobil Body.

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, Smithfield Foods Inc. meat packer and Caterpillar equipment manufacturers Inc.

and Deere DE 3.52%

& Co., according to Illinois public health data. Some of these companies organize or intend to organize closed vaccine administration events, which means that only their staff is eligible, not the general public. The sites rely on state and local public health authorities for dose allocation.

Money manager Fidelity Investments has registered to deliver doses at its Boston headquarters and will begin shooting at workers over the age of 65 when receiving vaccines in Massachusetts, a spokesman said. A third-party health and wellness company will take the photos in accordance with the state’s priority guidelines, he added.

Throughout the pandemic, companies have strived to have access to safety-related tools, such as protective equipment and testing capability, to protect workers and give customers and staff more confidence in common areas. Now, their focus has shifted to vaccines.

Vaccine prioritization differs from state to state. In some jurisdictions, who is eligible for doses simply depends on age. In others, any worker in a priority sector, from healthcare to production, can get a dose regardless of whether their role involves interaction with the public, the ability to work from home or remotely, or the type of product they work on.

Companies that want to give workers to their workers usually have to enroll in public health programs that approve who is eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccine allocations. In general, the federal government allocates doses to states, territories, several large cities, and federal agencies, which then distribute them to constituents or local health authorities.

Some equitable health researchers say state priority guidelines may be too broad and risk administering vaccine doses to people who are not at high risk of contracting Covid-19 at work when supply remains limited nationwide. .

Vaccination in the workplace helps eliminate the challenges of transiting and stopping workers by the hour and effectively gets doses for those in high-risk positions, such as those where social distance is not possible, said Dr. Janice Bowie, Professor of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also highlights an issue with classifying entire sectors as essential, when workers’ roles, workplace risks and health conditions vary widely, she said.

“This is certainly not white or black,” ethically, given the current limited supply of vaccines nationwide, Dr. Bowie said of companies receiving doses for staff.

Some health experts have said that the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine by employers can help speed up distribution, as it removes eligible workers from the line in public places and facilitates the program-making process. The challenge is that not all companies are looking for or given dose allocations, they said.

“It’s a balancing act,” said Mark Pfister, executive director of the Illinois Lake County Department of Health, about the dose managers’ allocations in his jurisdiction, which include Abbott and AbbVie. The supply of vaccines has increased since the first days of launch, but many other entities now want doses, he said. His department calls on companies to give priority to workers aged 65 and over who work almost together on production lines or who live in postcodes most affected by Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

Providing doses on the spot gives employers better visibility of people who have been shot than if workers would travel to public facilities, corporate health advisers say. It also saves employers missed hours if workers have to travel to vaccine administration sites during working hours and saves staff the costs of losing wages, childcare and transit.

“Employers have found that this is the best way to get people back to work as safely as possible,” said Tobias Barker, medical director at Everside Health, which assists employers with vaccination and record-keeping events.

An Abbott spokeswoman said the company works with public health officials in places where it has production facilities to provide vaccines to eligible workers when doses are available. Any dose of vaccine the company receives is only for employees who meet government requirements for the initial stages of vaccination, she said.

A spokeswoman for Deere & Co. said vaccines for its employees began last week in all five locations in Illinois. It will provide doses to production and maintenance employees at its production units and to employees who have consistently reported to its factories or offices since March 2020, which is a minority of such staff.

Keira Lombardo, managing director at Smithfield, said the company and its partners can facilitate the rapid distribution of vaccines to workers in the food and agriculture industries and do so based on state-specific guidelines. The company is ready to help with distribution to workers in other key categories, she added.

An Exxon spokesman said the doses would be administered according to local health authority requirements, prioritized for those with roles considered critical by the company. A Caterpillar spokeswoman declined to comment.

Airlines, including United Airlines Holdings Inc.

and American Airlines Group Inc.

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they said they started administering Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses last week to certain employees at their health clinics at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. United said employees who live or work in Chicago would be eligible if they were at least 65 years old or a flight crew member. The American said that his main employees of the O’Hare network and the regional ones are eligible, but those with customer-oriented roles will be given priority.

The Biden administration expects to have vaccine doses available to all adults nationwide by May, although it is unclear when people will be able to receive them. The increase in the supply of vaccines has given hope to some employers to bring staff back to the offices this year.

Many have tried to encourage vaccination, but not to mandate it. More publicly traded companies, from Trader Joe’s to Instacart Inc. and General Dollar Body.

, gave workers the equivalent of a few hours’ pay in exchange for vaccination.

Medical advisors say that providing doses on the spot can create a network effect in which colleagues see their bosses or co-workers receiving doses and then become more receptive to doing it themselves.

—Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Sarah Krouse at [email protected]