The Washington State Tree Fruit Association is urging all industry employers to contact a local health district, clinic, pharmacy or federal provider to offer and encourage employee vaccinations for COVID-19.

Washington health authorities have the resources to arrange on-site vaccination events or schedule group appointments at clinics or the federal vaccination site at Yakima State Fair Park. Oregon growers also have a variety of community organizations and health authorities helping to vaccinate agricultural workers.

Good Fruit Grower has collected several related documents and links for both states in a webpage at goodfruit.com/worker-vaccination-resources.

To help employers with outreach, the page also includes videos about vaccination myths vs. facts. Produced by the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, the videos are available in English at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTax1gjzJIo and in Spanish at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyQVZOxkmeA.

In addition to the resources on this page, the Washington State Department of Health has an online form to request an on-site vaccination event through local health districts, available at https://clienthub.getjobber.com/client_hubs/f3ac7c11-e2a3-4c91-a961-697794a8b954/public/work_request/new.

For vaccinations in Oregon’s Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam counties, employers may contact Dr. Mimi McDonell at North Central Public Health by email at mimim@ncphd.org or by calling 541-506-2615. Growers may also contact One Community Health at: https://www.onecommunityhealth.org/employers. For vaccine availability notifications in North Central Oregon counties, employers may sign up at: https://www.ncphd.org/phase-notifications.

—by Ross Courtney