Hormel's plant workers in Austin get vaccinated

AUSTIN, Minn. — Minnesota processing plant employees for Hormel began getting vaccinated last week.

According to Hormel spokesperson Rick Williamson, vaccines were distributed to employees of the processing plant in Austin on March 18. He said vaccinations were done "inside the plant" but was unable to provide details on vaccine type or how many shots were administered that day.

"I don’t believe the whole plant was vaccinated in just Thursday’s event," Williamson said.

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Richard Carlson, vice president of quality management for the company, told Agweek on March 8 that only a few of the approximately 1,800 employees working at the Austin processing plant had been vaccinated at that point. He said the company was in close partnership with Mower County Public Health to ensure a smooth distribution once vaccines were allotted.

Plant workers at Tyson Foods' and JBS plants in Iowa started to get vaccinated in early March and Carlson predicted Hormel worker vaccinations would be around the corner.

Carlson said that Hormel corporate has advocated for the state to prioritize its plant workers in the vaccine rollout, and the company was "a little frustrated about the pace" of distribution early on.

"Just those opportunities where we can voice our opinions and advocate for our teams, we're going to do that right up through the point where we can get them vaccinated and hopefully put this pandemic behind us," he said.