The following article ran as the Editorial in the January issue of Meatingplace magazine.

As millions of doses of vaccines began to roll out across the U.S. in a mid-December attack on COVID-19 that Gen. Gus Perna likened to D-Day, the meat industry rightly pressed for its essential plant workers to be among the first ranks to receive the first doses. Also commendable was processors’ early efforts to organize and partake in their distribution.

As examples, Perdue Farms called on the governors of 15 states to coordinate their plans for vaccine distribution, and Smithfield Foods offered to facilitate distribution to both its own workers and other essential workers. Smithfield also offered its freezer capabilities to store the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which must be kept at -94°F and -4°F, respectively.

The cold chain requirements are just one part of why “Operation Warp Speed” was being documented as one of the most complicated logistical efforts in U.S. history. A fragmented, decentralized public health system in the U.S. — characterized by a patchwork of public and private healthcare providers with competing plans and differing priorities — adds to the complexity and compromises efficiency.

Similar deficiencies have dogged efforts to control COVID-19 in the United States, which had claimed some 300,000 lives by the time the vaccines were shipped.

It makes sense that meat processors are throwing their hats in the ring. Many have said that their efforts to control COVID-19 would be more successful if there was consistent, federal administration of public mitigation policies, because it would better help curb the spread from their surrounding communities into their plants.

That disconnect mirrors that of our current public health system. A former high-level FSIS official told me its cobbled-together nature makes the logistics of pathogen outbreak investigations more cumbersome. Coordination between CDC and state public health departments, whose levels of funding and sophistication vary, takes more time and can slow the process.

I find that to be a compelling illustration. Much of the meat industry’s success in driving down pathogenic contamination in the last quarter century is credited to the sharing of best practices under consensus that food safety is a noncompetitive issue; rather, it’s a coordinated and shared responsibility for the greater good.

The process of distributing vaccines in the interest of saving lives also should be devoid of competing dynamics. A national public health system would create a coordinated infrastructure ready to better withstand crises, much as the U.S. interstate system could allow for ease of military mobilization.

How the massive vaccine distribution effort unfolds remains to be seen. Meat processors’ participation in the process can only help make it more seamless. Perdue and Smithfield can leverage their massive scale — a scale achieved with the help of vertical integration models whose attributes would make for a more efficient public health system. They include alignment of supply chain, efficient product distribution, and a clear chain of command to execute a coordinated plan.

The missing link

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