Mixed Messages and COVID-19 Prevention: Why Information is not Always Enough to Protect Meat Processing Workers

• Published in: AJPM Focus 2023-12, Vol.2 (4), p.100128, Article 100128
• Main Authors: Sivén, Jacqueline M., Coburn, Julia, Call, Tristan P., Mahoney, Dillon, Flores, Rebeca Rodriguez, Kaur, Harpriya, Flynn, Michael A., Menéndez, Cammie Chaumont
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: health equity; immigrant workers; occupational health; Vaccine confidence
• ISSN: 2773-0654; 2773-0654
• DOI: 10.1016/j.focus.2023.100128

•Meat processing workers reveal difficulties with COVID-19 mitigation measures.•Workers were concerned about the safety of vaccination during early vaccine roll out.•Collaboration with community organizations is the key to understanding community perspectives.•Workplaces can facilitate or hinder public health efforts in diverse communities. The objective of this project was to investigate U.S. meat and poultry processing workers’ knowledge of COVID-19; their perceived ability to protect themselves from infection; and perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines to inform COVID-19 prevention efforts within this linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse workforce. Qualitative semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with Mexican, Central American, Congolese refugee, and Black or African American meat/poultry processing workers from Mississippi, Minnesota, Virginia, and Kentucky (N=40). Data were collected from December 5, 2020 to January 28, 2021. Interview audio was transcribed, and rapid qualitative data analysis was used to analyze transcripts. Most participants expressed receiving mixed messages about COVID-19 protection measures: they were told how to protect themselves (n=38), but workplace policies (such as lack of paid sick leave) often undermined their efforts. Participants who were asked about COVID-19 vaccines (n=31) were aware that there were 1 or more vaccines available to protect them from COVID-19; one third were eager to get vaccinated. Community-based efforts may consider supplementing large-scale unified information campaigns to prevent mixed messages, address worker needs to accurately gauge the threat of illness to their families and communities, and empower them to prevent infection.