Large employers, from the meatpacking industry to airlines and pharmaceutical companies, are getting permission from public-health officials to administer Covid-19 vaccines, hoping to speed up inoculations of their employees.
Many businesses see giving vaccine doses to employees at work as a way to efficiently vaccinate staff but, in doing so, are joining a race for scarce shots.
Pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. has begun giving staff at its North Chicago headquarters doses, according to people familiar with the matter, giving priority to those over 65 years old and then workers in operations and manufacturing. Abbott Laboratories also has begun giving doses at its nearby headquarters to eligible workers, such as those in manufacturing, food service and daycare, a spokeswoman said, and Tyson Foods Inc. has delivered doses to staff at its Joslin, Ill., beef plant and to some workers in Iowa, a spokesman said.
Other large companies registered to provide doses include energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp. , meatpacker Smithfield Foods Inc. and machinery-makers Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co., according to Illinois public-health records. Some of those companies run or are planning to run closed vaccine-giving events, meaning only their own staff are eligible, not the broader public. Sites are reliant on state and local public-health authorities for allocations of doses.
Money manager Fidelity Investments has registered to provide doses at its Boston headquarters and will begin giving shots to workers who are over 65 when it receives vaccines from Massachusetts, a spokesman said. A third-party health-and-wellness company will give the shots according to the state’s prioritization guidelines, he added.
