Advocacy Groups Demand COVID-19 Vaccine For Essential Workers

OHIO — Advocacy groups are petitioning for the COVID-19 vaccine to be given to Ohio's frontline laborers, including immigrants.

Essential Ohio, which campaigns for Ohio's frontline workers, sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine and Health Department Director Stephanie McCloud this week. The letter demands essential workers receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

"Many people are fortunate to be able to shelter themselves indoors for safety and isolation, but our essential workforce is not. Instead they have taken on new risks to themselves and their families that have made it possible for others to stay safe and Ohio’s economy to restart," the letter said.

The letter also urges DeWine to limit personal information collected during the vaccine process.

“Keeping Essential Workers, regardless of status and across every industry, healthy during this pandemic should be a top priority in Ohio and across the country. Our country would come to a screeching halt without the essential workers who continually put themselves and their families at risk during this pandemic,” said Deb Kline, director of Cleveland Jobs With Justice.

"While there is a compelling case for this group and many groups to receive the vaccine as soon as possible, there is not enough vaccine supply right now to vaccinate all groups at this time. Vaccine eligibility to date has reflected Governor DeWine’s goals of saving as many lives as possible and returning K-12 students to in-person instruction," the governor's office said in response to the letter.

The governor has frequently lamented the lack of adequate vaccine supplies in Ohio. Due to supply constraints, the state has been vaccinating those deemed "most vulnerable" to the virus, including the elderly and Ohioans with severe, chronic health conditions. The vaccine has also been made available to the state's teachers.

"Gov. DeWine has already let down the Ohio community by rushing to restart the economy and to reopen schools before workers are fully vaccinated and community spread is under control. This crisis is still urgent and far from over,” said Magda Orlander, safety trainer, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center.

If the state had enough vaccines, Ohio would host mass vaccination clinics, DeWine said last week. There is simply not enough vaccine for every deserving group in the state, the governor said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included frontline workers, like food and agriculture laborers, in a list of professions that should receive priority when distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. Essential Ohio said agricultural laborers are in particular jeopardy because of the virus.

"Their working conditions make them particularly vulnerable during the pandemic because they work in close proximity to each other and have little opportunity to take breaks to use the bathroom and wash their hands. We all depend on these workers. They deserve to be treated with dignity and to work in a place that is safe," the letter said.

DeWine's office did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

The full letter to DeWine can be read below.