Tyson to offer vaccinations to thousands of Iowa meat plant workers

[March 01, 2021]  (Reuters) - Tyson Foods Inc, the largest U.S. meat processor, said on Monday it would offer COVID-19 vaccinations to thousands of its frontline workers at its Iowa meat processing plants this week.

Tyson, which has previously said it would offer vaccines at its facilities, expects many of the company's 13,000 Iowa employees to be inoculated during vaccination events later this week.

Thousands of U.S. meatpacking workers became infected with the coronavirus last year, with outbreaks of the disease temporarily shutting slaughterhouses in the spring and tightening supplies for consumers.

More than 2,000 U.S employees have already been vaccinated, Tyson said, adding that more vaccination events are planned this week for workers in Wilkesboro in North Carolina, Albany in Kentucky and Noel in Missouri.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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