Plans underway for COVID-19 vaccination clinic at southern Alberta meat-packing plant

Plans Underway for COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Southern Alberta Meat-Packing Plant
Global News, April 8, 2021

Alberta Health Services announced plans to bring a COVID-19 vaccination clinic directly to Cargill's High River meat-packing plant, in what Dr. Gabriel Fabreau described as potentially "one of the first and largest mobile workplace vaccination programs in the country."

Dr. Fabreau, assistant professor at the University of Calgary and researcher at the O'Brien Institute for Public Health, was instrumental in making the clinic happen. He provided scientific evidence in meetings with employers, AHS, and newcomer-focused organizations to advocate for targeted immunization at sites like meat-packing plants, which are disproportionately staffed by immigrants and newcomers. "There's mounting evidence to support targeting high-risk locations and essential frontline workers," he said.

The clinic was designed with the specific risks of the plant environment in mind. "The risk of transmission in a meat plant is almost ideal: you're putting thousands of workers indoors in close quarters, where it's loud so you have to shout, the work is hard so you have to breathe hard," Dr. Fabreau noted. On-site translation support from newcomer-oriented organizations was built into the clinic from the start.

The initiative was framed as a model for health equity in action. "When you know that there are increased barriers for some people, it behooves the health system to try to address those barriers to ensure that people are protected," Dr. Fabreau said. AHS indicated it would look to expand the pilot to other meat-processing plants as vaccine supply allowed.

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