Pottawattamie County officials say high vaccination rates at Tyson plant helps goal

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) - One of the nation’s largest meatpackers in the county says vaccine mandates work. Tyson Foods officials say 96% of its U.S. team members are fully vaccinated.

When the virus hit it was hard on the meatpacking industry. Meatpackers were named essential workers early in the pandemic but their shoulder-to-shoulder working conditions were the perfect setup for the virus.

The vaccine was the answer and Tyson officials made sure the shot was made available to its workers. In Pottawattamie County, Tyson Foods worked with county officials setting up mass vaccination sites.

“It was great working with them. We were happy to have that relationship that will be ongoing now into the future, they have been a great community partner and really take care of their employees,” said Matt Wyant.

This summer, Tyson Foods required its workers in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated by November 1.

“To those of you who remain unvaccinated, this is your choice, and we respect that choice. If you change your mind and want to rejoin Tyson, let us know.

There is a Tyson plant in Council Bluffs and Pott County officials say the vaccination rates there are helping the county move towards its vaccination rate goal.

“Our whole goal had been we really want to hit that 60% mark for Pottawattamie County and they really helped us drive those numbers up, we’re sitting at 56% of eligible people vaccinated right now so hopefully by the end of this year, we’ll be able to hit that 60% mark.

Matt Wyant is the Director of Planning and Development in Pottawattamie County, he says they will continue to give out factual information and work to get shots in people’s arms.

“We continue to try to make it as accessible as we can to everyone and right now, we’re doing a lot transpiring back around to do all our booster clinics all of our educational facilities that we have. We really want it to be one of those personal choice options that people are going to make, just know that we’re here to help them meet that.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers, the largest union for Tyson workers across the county said that working together with Tyson set a new standard with this vaccine mandate and proved what’s possible when we listen to workers and negotiate mandates fairly and responsibly.

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