Meat Plant Vaccinations: A Pro–Team Story

I paused and took in the scene below the catwalk where I stood - what I saw took my breath away. I felt shock, awe … and worry… The conveyer belt was moving steadily and unrelentingly… and these people had sharp knives in their hands. The workers, spaced 3 feet apart, wearing PPE and separated by Plexiglas, were masterfully carving the meat as it came by. With heads down they were quick and focused. 

I wondered – how can they focus like that for such a long period of time? and - what if they get distracted and make a mistake? The place was crawling with people. I was walking above the fabrication floor of a meat plant after a large COVID outbreak in Spring 2020.

It was a year ago now, the same day I was introduced to Katie, the nurse on site. She was attentive, smiling (behind her mask) and oozing with empathy. I liked her instantly, but had no idea that our paths would cross again.

Fast forward to Spring of 2021. The B.1.1.7 variant had arrived in Alberta. It had already taken over as the predominant strain in the UK and it was 50% more transmissible and likely airborne. This could prove to be disastrous for the meat plant workers.

A small group of passionate people who were actively involved with the outbreak response a year ago met with the meat plant operators. It was clear that the vaccine was the only way to further protect this workforce. Dr. Gabe Fabreau led the charge on a briefing note for the government, pitching why meat plant workers needed to get the vaccine soon. It was approved! We got the word that this workforce was part of phase 2C (Alberta phases). We cheered!

However, it was not until a passionate family doctor got involved that the rubber really hit the road. Dr. Annalee Coakley is a dynamo – a small but mighty force of nature. She knew this workforce well, as she works at the Mosaic Primary Care Network (which includes the refugee clinic) and has attended every union town hall held with the meat plant workers over the last year to talk about COVID and vaccines.

I found out that Annalee, together with Katie (the meat plant nurse whom I met the year before) were planning to launch the first onsite meat plant vaccination clinic in Alberta. They both knew that trust was the most important factor when it comes to people choosing to take the vaccine. The workers would need credible information on the vaccines, and easy access (remove all hurdles - like making an appointment via the web). Many of these workers have two jobs, low level of English literacy, and have limited transportation options. The onsite clinic was publicly announced and it kick-started on site vaccine clinics at all the large meat plants in the province.

I joined forces with Annalee and Katie to get the planning underway. We had never led a vaccine clinic but luckily the Alberta Health Services public health team gave us all the supplies and intel we needed (thank you Joanne Coldham and High River public health team!). We had checklists, room lay-out maps, and project plans whipped up in a week. 

We chose the hockey hub model (started in Ontario and adopted in Alberta) as the clinic design of choice to jab this volume of workers. Who was going to give the shots? Dr. Adam Vyse, a local family doctor from the Calgary Rural Primary Care Network – rallied the troops and convinced many of his colleagues to help. Within days there were 20 doctors and nurses who stepped forward to help immunize at this clinic. A shout out to Mosaic, Rural and Highland Primary Care Networks!

There was one other key ingredient needed for this clinic to be successful: translators. There are 80+ languages spoken by the workers at this plant. Key languages were Tagalog, Tigrinya, Amharic, Somali, Oromo, Mandarin and Arabic. Luckily members of the Alberta International Medical Graduates Association (AIMGA) jumped in to be part of the team and would answer workers’ questions about the vaccines in their first language and ask the “fit to immunize” questions on the days of the clinic.

A ton of effort needed to be made in advance. Katie and her nursing team worked tirelessly to get all the registration forms filled out and answer questions from the workers about the vaccine clinic. “Who is giving us the vaccine?”, and “Is Moderna safe?” were common questions. She affectionately told us some workers would check with her daily to make sure their names were still on the registration list. They needed to be sure they were not forgotten.

When the vaccine arrived at the meat plant the day before the vaccine clinic, Katie joked that she was going to sleep on top of the vaccine fridge, but eventually trusted her staff to do hourly temperature checks instead. She knew this was liquid gold. Our mighty team arrived early on April 28 to do the final prep and at 8 am, the first shot was given by Dr. Lee Rehak, a local High River family doctor.

Together with the plant operators a plan had been put in place. The operators would slow the production line so that workers who wanted the vaccine would have time to leave. They worked through all the different departments of the plant one at a time. The workers would first go to the registration room to get their prefilled paperwork and talk to the international medical graduates and meat plant nursing staff before heading upstairs to where the shots were given. We used sticky notes on their paperwork to see how long it took to get the shot – and the longest wait was 47 minutes (including any wait time) – and shortest was 24 minutes! The first morning was by far the busiest – and we were more efficient as we streamlined the process.

The meat plant buzzed like a small city filled with good energy and laughter. The day was filled with madly drawing syringes (and no chatting while drawing allowed!), problem solving on the fly, giving shots, music playing, filling out the right paperwork, media interviews and making sure we kept an eye on how much vaccine to prepare so there was no wastage at the end of the night. I am sure Katie must have ran up and down the stairs between the registration area and the vaccine clinic room 100 times that day.

A steady stream of workers came in all day till our final tally of 1265 at midnight! We were blown away by this number. Given the plant has 2100 staff and we had hoped that 1800 workers wanted to get the vaccine – we were well on track.

Day 2 started off calmer and we were filled with street cred and confidence was high. At 7 pm we had finished our job.

Final stats were:

1638 vaccines were given

20 MDs (4 hour shifts)

8 RNs

6 AIMGA members

26 clinic hours

Our team was exhausted but filled with happiness and pride. We made sure to celebrate and reflect on this monumental event before we went home. It was a very special moment for me. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for this small group of unusual characters who, brought together with a common purpose, protected this workforce from COVID-19.

And I think that now – if I was to walk the catwalk again, watching the workers carving the meat on the fabrication floor – I will not hold my breath, or fear for their lives. Instead, I’ll admire their resilience, and their commitment to provide for their families.

Marlies