An Amazon.com Inc. employee prepares an order in which the buyer requested to wrap an item at a compliance center in Shakopee, Minnesota, USA, on November 12, 2020
Amazon.com Inc | Reuters
Amazon is pushing for front-line employees to have priority access to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of retail operations, sent a letter Wednesday to a panel of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking warehouse workers, Amazon Web Services data center employees and employees of Whole Foods who “received the Covid-19 vaccine at the right time.”
Clark stressed that Amazon’s front-line workers have played an essential role in helping consumers get the products they need during the coronavirus pandemic, as local governments ordered people to stay inside and that closed retail stores. He added that Amazon employs more than 800,000 people in the United States, making it the second largest entrepreneur in the nation behind Walmart.
“We call on ACIP to continue to prioritize these essential workers who cannot work from home,” Clark wrote, referring to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an external group of medical experts advising the CDC.
Elsewhere in Silicon Valley, Uber and DoorDash have urged officials to prioritize their drivers when it comes to vaccine distribution. Companies in the retail, aviation, catering and meat packaging industries have also pushed for priority access.
On December 1, a CDC group voted to give the first Covid-19 vaccine jobs to health workers and long-term care center residents. The court will soon vote on which groups to prioritize in the second wave of recipients. Among the groups expected to be prioritized are vulnerable Americans, including people with underlying conditions, the elderly, and essential workers.
– CNBC’s Bertha Coombs contributed to this article.