The American Community Survey found that in 10 months into the vaccine era, farmworkers maintain the lowest vaccination rates of any group of essential workers nationwide. But it also showed that the greater the food insecurity and the risk of eviction from the home, the vaccination levels decrease.
During the videoconference: “ The agricultural workers and food processors of the Kern County is still at risk: the pandemic reaches a decisive point ”, organized by Ethnic Media Services, it was mentioned that this county is at a decisive point in the face of the pandemic, since although the access vaccines is widespread, there is still mistrust and misinformation among workers in agricultural fields and food processing plants.
Before the covid – 19, people worry about paying electricity bills, grocery bills and the fear of being evicted.
Edward Flores, assistant professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Work and Community at the University of California at Merced, said it is not news that the Central Valley was abuzz with covid in 2020 and that farm workers experienced higher death rates compared to other workers.
What is surprising is that throughout the country, agricultural workers still have the lowest vaccination rates.
“ But this is not necessarily the problem, but rather the symptom of a more serious situation, because the survey showed us that vaccination rates are lower among those who do not have access to health, and who experience insecurity in housing and food ”.
The academic pointed out that the Central Valley had the highest death rates from the pandemic. Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and the Central Valley had the highest number of covid deaths – 19 ”.
And he mentioned that when doing an analysis by county, they found that the 12 counties with the highest rates of covid are in the Central Valley. “Between March and December, 1, 230 deaths related to the pandemic. ”
It indicated that a quarter of deaths from covid – 19 in California, 11, 500 from 45, 000, corresponded to agricultural workers. In other words, farmers had the second highest rate of deaths related to the pandemic.
“In Kern County, workers in the 10 Higher risk industries experienced an increase in 37% by death in 2020. These workers tended to be poor immigrants, non-citizens, with low wages, living in rental homes with children. ”
He stressed that more than 67% of agricultural workers are not citizens, they earn around $ 39, 03 per year, live in overcrowded households and live below the poverty level. And those who live in worker camps are at a greater disadvantage.
According to the Census Bureau, only the 50% of farm workers have been vaccinated, a much lower figure than any other group of workers.
“We found that vaccination rates vary according to the food sufficiency of the household. People living in households with enough food had vaccination rates of 88%, against him 56% of those who often do not have enough to eat. ”
Also found that people living in uninsured households with the highest level of food insecurity were vaccinated at rates of only 39%.
“They also discovered that people who believed that it was very likely that they would be evicted in the next two months, presented vaccination rates of 35% ”.
In conclusion, this research suggests that vaccination levels need to be improved and the spread of n of covid.
“They need to expand the safety net such as sick and emergency pay for undocumented workers, and improve the distribution of rental assistance to tenants at risk of eviction” .
Misinformation and myths
Juana Montoya, a community organizer for Líderes Campesinas in Kern County, a farm worker like her parents, said that one of the big challenges many women farm workers have not been vaccinated for has to do with misinformation and myths that circulate in communities and on social networks about vaccines. ”
He said that people think that with the vaccine, They are going to put a chip on them to follow them, which will affect their ability to get pregnant rse or that their immigration status and personal information will be shared with the government.
“Also many do not have access to the Internet, or are not familiar with browsing on-line; and they have barriers because they do not know English or do not have transportation. ”
He commented that many believe that they will die after receiving the vaccine; others want to wait to see what happens to the neighbor who received the vaccine or a family member who is vaccinated. They think that there is not enough research on the vaccine and they wonder how it is possible that it will exist in a short time. They are afraid. ”
Montoya said she has worked together with health providers to answer questions from farm workers regarding to the vaccine so that they make informed decisions, especially because Kern has been one of the counties hardest hit by covid.
“We are working to change inequalities and end the barriers that prevent workers from accessing much needed government assistance and information. ”
Indigenous farmers
Margarita Ramirez, a community worker at the Centro Binacional Mixtec, said that what really limits indigenous farmers’ access to the vaccine covid – 19, is the language, because when translations are made, terms that do not exist in their communities are used.
“For many indigenous peasants, Spanish it is their second language, but the vast majority are monolingual in their indigenous language ”.
He made it clear that as it happened in other communities, the covid – 19 exacerbated the inequalities suffered by indigenous agricultural workers such as loss of income.
“It has been impossible for this community to obtain assistance for food and prevent evictions because the institutions are not equipped to serve them in their language. ”
Food processors
Deep Singh of the Jakara Movement that advocates for the Punjabi community of India, which works mostly in agricultural processing plants of the County of Kern, said that in some large plants, employers have vaccinated workers for fear of labor shortages.
“In some of the smaller food processing companies they do not the vaccine has not been available nor does it give them the time to be vaccinated ”.
For this reason, he estimated that it would have to be mandatory for all employers to give access to the vaccine to guarantee the health and well-being of the communities.
“That has to go hand in hand with education and linguistic dissemination.”