More than 1,200 Tyson Foods processing workers in Northwest Arkansas were given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week over a two-day span.
The Springdale-based meatpacker on Monday said it is expanding its efforts to immunize its employees and will offer 19 vaccination sites over the next three weeks, in an attempt to give its more than 24,000 workers in Arkansas easier access to the vaccine.
Tom Brower, Tyson's senior vice president of health and safety, said in a written statement that offering a vaccine to employees is part of a long-term strategy focused on worker health and safety. Over the past year Tyson has spent more than half a billion dollars on ways to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
"Any team member who wants a vaccine will receive one," Brower said.
After talking up the vaccine to workers, corporate distribution efforts are in full swing. In preparation for this, companies coordinated with local health officials to allocate supplies and worked to educate workers about the vaccine, offering information in different languages.
Simmons Foods, a poultry and pet food manufacturer based in Siloam Springs, set up drive-thru clinics for its workers last week and administered 1,100 Pfizer vaccines, company spokeswoman Julie Maus said in recent emails.
OK Foods, a chicken supplier based in Fort Smith, also offered vaccines to its workers last week. A company spokesman declined to say what vaccine brand the state allocated to the company.
A Rogers Clorox plant that manufactures Glad products plans to offer the vaccine to more than 350 workers today.
Plant manager Stephanie Knight said there's been a ton of interest from workers about the all-day event.
"It's very exciting," she said.
Clorox is offering the Pfizer vaccine through the company's insurance and paid time off to support them if they have any adverse effects. Knight said the company is working with Heartland pharmacy to administer the shots.
Some companies are offering incentives to workers to get vaccinated. Target is offering paid time off, plus $15 each way for Lyft rides to vaccine sites. Walmart is offering the vaccine to store employees and three days paid leave if they should experience any side effects.
Tyson is compensating workers with up to four hours of regular pay if they are vaccinated at an external site.
Guillermo Rabago, a plant supervisor at Tyson's Fayetteville complex, said he was one of the first people to "say yes" to the vaccine when he found out it would soon be available.
"When I communicated the news to my team, they were very excited. Some of my team had questions, but also there was a lot of information available for us to be well prepared," Rabago said in an interview last week.
"I feel blessed."