Around 1,000 Santa Clara County Farmworkers Are Fully Vaccinated

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Around 1,000 frontline agricultural workers in Santa Clara County were fully vaccinated Wednesday against COVID-19 through a partnership with Monterey Mushrooms and local farmworkers unions.

Farmworkers became eligible for the vaccine in California at the beginning of March, and the county immediately began vaccinating 1,000 farm workers at Morgan Hill’s Monterey Mushrooms.

The farm, along with United Farm Workers and the UFW Foundation, provided outreach to workers about the importance of being vaccinated. According to a news release, the county supplied vaccines and other equipment.

At a César Chávez Day event on Wednesday, the county offered second doses to 500 workers at Monterey Mushrooms.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said that making sure farmworkers who serve a critical role in ensuring Californians have food on their tables was essential.

“We need to keep them safe and protected by going to them with the COVID-19 vaccination because they are at increased risk of getting the virus due to working and housing conditions,” Chavez said in a news release. “With this collaboration we are bringing a significant portion of the farmworker population to safety.”

Diana Tellefson Torres, the executive director of the UFW Foundation, called the vaccinations “life-saving” for farmworkers who may not have access to the vaccines. She said that according to a recent survey by the foundation, 73 percent of over 10,000 farmworkers questioned were willing to be vaccinated.

“Farmworkers face heightened threats to their health and safety every day as essential laborers," Torres said.

The vaccines were given via the county’s mobile clinic, which was created to ensure equity in vaccine distribution for at-risk communities and other sectors hit hardest by the virus.

For more news and information about the vaccine rollout in California, visit Patch's information hub. Also, be sure to check out How To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In California.