What is essential in our lives? As COVID-19 has restricted ones’ activities over the past year, countless Americans considered this question. It turns out, the answer for most of us is the same—people. Today, we miss our committee meetings and NJFC networking events with our members to the casual exchanges at the gym, the conversations that crop up at the checkout line, and most importantly, time with friends and family.
Of course, New Jersey residents also rediscovered which parts of our economy are truly essential. High on that list alongside our medical infrastructure is food distribution. New Jersey’s grocery stores and their workers have been on the front lines since the pandemic hit like a ton of bricks. Whereas employees in countless other industries immediately switched to remote work, grocery stores and our supply chain partners did not have that option.
Their essential duty is to keep New Jerseyans fed. From the first, uncertain days of this crisis, food stores across the Garden State remained open. The industry pulled together to learn about the virus, implemented safety measures recommended by experts, resolved supply chain issues to keep shelves full, and ensured families could put nutritious food on the table at home.
Moreover, many local supermarkets also have pharmacies. New Jersey Food Council members did as much over the past 12 months to ensure that Dad had a consistent supply of the blood pressure medication he takes with breakfast as they did to stock his favorite cereal.
A number of supermarket pharmacies are also engaged right now in administering vaccines to healthcare professionals, high-risk residents, teachers and others in eligible categories. Finally, food store and food supply employees, essential workers in Category 1B, just received the green light to be vaccinated. And as vaccination eligibility expands, many more food store pharmacists will be among those giving shots to the general public through the federal retail pharmacy program.
To procure the COVID-19 vaccine supplies to support this roll-out, food stores will continue to collaborate with healthcare distributors. These companies specialize in logistics for medicines and medical supplies. Already, they have succeeded in keeping supermarket pharmacies stocked through the worst of COVID-19. If you recently came in for antibiotics or a fever reducer to treat a sick child, you can thank the partnership between our member pharmacies and healthcare distributors for ensuring the medicine needed was on hand.
Now these companies have added COVID-19 vaccine distribution to their responsibilities. The vaccination effort is an unfolding situation demanding flexibility and agility. Even as new vaccination locations are added, vaccination allocation and other complications arise, these partners have almost no margin for error. Each dose of COVID-19 is precious. Vaccines must remain frozen in transit and arrive securely and promptly so that each vial takes us a step closer to population-wide immunity.
As more supply becomes available, an increasing number of our local supermarkets will be able to vaccinate more customers and their workforce. Our supermarkets with pharmacies are now coordinating with their NJ grocery store competitors to vaccinate their workforce to protect our frontline workers.
This is just another example of the essential services we all depend on but, until a pandemic hit, rarely contemplated. If there is any good to come out of this crisis, hopefully it is an enhanced and enduring appreciation of all frontline, essential workers. Grocery, food supply chain and agricultural employees, healthcare professionals and support staff, and individuals throughout the medical supply chain, have more than earned our gratitude over the past year and we must continue to admire and appreciate their contributions whenever COVID-19 finally is in the rearview mirror.