Thousands of Niagara farm workers receive COVID-19 vaccine

More than three thousand migrant and local farm workers in the Niagara Region have received a COVID-19 vaccination.

The region reports 3,019 workers from 171 farms in the area were given their first dose at the Seymour Hannah Centre's clinic during the weekend of April 23 and 24. That's on top of the 315 who were previously vaccinated at a pilot clinic.

"We have the third largest population of migrant workers in Ontario, and we are the first to attempt and successfully offer vaccinations to farm workers at this scale," wrote spokesperson Andrew Korchok in an email.

The clinic was a team effort that included Niagara Health, public health, EMS, community services and Quest Community Health Centre as well as local Spanish-speaking family physicians and specialists.

The thousands of workers in Niagara are part the roughly 20,000 temporary foreign workers employed on Ontario farms each year. More than 1,780 workers tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020 and three died from the virus.

The region saw a significant number of farm outbreaks last year, said Adrienne Jugley, Commissioner for Community Services.

The recent clinic means the majority of temporary and local farm workers now have their shots, though "there's still little bits of that last trickle of folks," she said.

Jugley was part of the team that took on the logistical challenge of arranging shots for staff at dozens of farms. The workers are currently part of cohorts, so needed to be booked and transported with the same group they're living with, she said.

Dr. David Dec, a family physician and chair of Niagara Region's community task force for COVID-19 vaccination, said workers were selected as part of Phase 2 or Ontario's rollout because of the "high risk of potential outbreaks and infection rates."

Haldimand-Norfolk, Windsor-Essex vaccinate hundreds

Other areas that rely on large numbers of migrant farm workers have also been busy vaccinating them.

Haldimand-Norfolk has administered approximately 1,300 doses to date, according to spokesperson Kyra Hayes, who said the health unit will be coordinating second doses for the farm staff.

Hundreds of workers in Windsor-Essex had also received a first shot as of mid-April, with plans to vaccinate hundreds more.

Shots are now being offered to farm workers at the airport. The vaccines administered in Niagara and elsewhere were offered to workers who arrived in Ontario before that program began.

In 2020, the three Mexican nationals working on farms in Ontario died in May and June after contracting COVID-19 here. All three men were under age 60.

Their names were Bonifacio Eugenio-Romero, who worked on a pepper farm near Kingsville; Rogelio Munoz Santos, who worked at a farm in Windsor-Essex; and Juan Lopez Chaparro, who worked on a vegetable farm near Simcoe.

A deputy chief coroner's review of their deaths includes 35 recommendations, calling on everything from improved access to health care to better communication between governments and agencies involved in bringing foreign workers to Canada each growing season.

Advocates concerned about coercion

Migrant worker advocates have expressed support for vaccinations, along with concerns around about the risk of coercion, language and workers having time to discuss the vaccine with health professionals.

"We have to ensure that workers aren't being coerced or compelled in this process," Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justice for Migrant Workers, previously told CBC.

Workers should not face reprisals, including being fired, because of their stance on vaccines, he said.

Ramsaroop stressed the importance of consensual process with "real conversation about why this is important."

Ensuring translators from the countries different workers hailed from were on-hand was a key consideration for the team vaccinating them in Niagara, said Jugley.

Officials made it clear to farms and workers that while they recommend getting a shot and stressing safety, they have a choice.

Some of the workers they encountered had expired identification, Jugley said, but the clinics were meant to vaccinate workers, not block them from it, she said.

"It's all about getting as much vaccine into arms as possible, creating as little barrier as you can," she said, adding the effort is about making "sure the farms are safe, the workers are safe and also that food supply continues."

"This is a global effort so we're not going to worry about whether they have the right ID or not."

Workers living in a bunkhouse don't have the ability to self-isolate, Jugley said, saying that's another reason they should be vaccinated so the virus doesn't spread on farms.

"People were so pleased to have an opportunity," she said. "Lots of people were actually surprised that as newcomers to Canada that this was available to them."