SWANA urges CDC to include waste and recycling workers as frontline vaccine recipients

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to include solid waste and recycling industry workers as Phase 1(b) COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

The ACIP already has recommended frontline essential workers as a priority group for the next round of vaccine distributions. SWANA says hopes to remind ACIP that including waste and recycling workers will protect public health and the environment and ensure the uninterrupted continuation of other critical infrastructure work.

“We welcome the CDC’s identification of frontline essential workers as part of phase 1(b) in its vaccine distribution plan,” stated SWANA Executive Director and CEO David Biderman. “SWANA’s comments today urge the CDC to explicitly identify solid waste and recycling workers, who in some communities are largely comprised of persons of color, in that group.”

SWANA’s comments reiterated the importance of solid waste and recycling workers to protecting public health and the environment throughout the United States. States are expected to incorporate the CDC’s guidance in finalizing their plans for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines to essential workers and others, the association says.

ACIP held a weekend meeting Dec. 18-19 to consider how to prioritize vaccine distribution. SWANA was favorably mentioned during the public comment period by a waste industry representative.

SWANA’s comments also were sent to congressional leaders, National Governors Association Chair Larry Hogan and a key official in the Biden transition team.