Grocery, hospitality workers get vaccines at pop up clinic

Seattle held a pop-up vaccination clinic aimed at more than 400 grocery workers and servers — people keeping us fed during this pandemic.

It was the result of a partnership between the city and their local union.

The union stated only workers who qualify under the governor’s restrictions got the vaccines.

And those lined up outside their union hall were all delighted to finally be here.

“I feel relieved,” said Ty Demore, e-commerce grocery worker. “I feel excited. And I feel good.”

Demore could just as easily be speaking for just about everyone here — these workers we usually meet at the end of a grocery line now standing in line on this rainy Sunday to better protect themselves from the coronavirus.

Demore got her e-commerce grocery job just as the pandemic was starting, so she doesn’t know what grocery life was like before.

“No, I do not,” she said, laughing. “I just know crazy times in the grocery business. That’s it.”

A time made crazier, still, trying to stay safe from the deadly virus.

“I’m really careful,” she said. “And I follow all those strict PPE (personal protective equipment) guidelines.”

And many of those here today, besides this hospitality worker, include people of color as well.

“I’ve been like cooped up in my house all day,” said Mardy Arnold, a hospitality worker at the Downtown Seattle Westin. “I just go to the store and go home. And that’s it.”

These are the workers being given a chance to get the scarce vaccine by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21.

The reality they face was outlined at a news conference before the pop-up clinic began Sunday afternoon.

“Every day, our workers show up even though they are afraid that they could die,” said Faye Guenther, UFCW Local 21 president.

“We’ve got to pull together as a community and make sure that those people who we need can come to work and feel that they are getting what they need to be protected,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

Still, the mayor acknowledged the frustrating vaccine shortage all across King County, the state’s largest.

“Home to 2.2 million people,” Durkan said. “Three hundred thousand seniors, and only 21,000 doses on a regular basis.”

That fact makes the vaccine all the more precious.

“Fabulous,” said Donna Ann Heintz, a server at the Seattle Mariners Diamond Club. “I mean it. It’s something everyone should get.”

UFCW Local 21 represents 48,000 workers.

So it stated it is working across the state to provide more of these pop-ups.

These workers received the Moderna vaccine. They will get their second dose on Feb. 28.

Cox Media Group