March 26, 2021- 10:00
Amazon said Thursday it plans to roll out onsite COVID-19 vaccinations for its employees in the coming weeks, starting in Missouri, Nevada and Kansas.
The company said it’s taking the knowledge it gained from its COVID-19 testing program to bring vaccines to its frontline workers. It said it will host onsite vaccination events administered by health care providers at an initial set of Amazon operations buildings in the U.S.
Although the e-commerce company is kicking off vaccination efforts in three states, it said it will expand the program nationwide as more vaccines become readily available in other states.
“This is an important initiative not only for the health and safety of Amazon employees, but for the communities where our teams live and work,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “Our events will protect Amazon employees while also helping ease the burden on community-run vaccination clinics.”
For frontline employees who will not have access to onsite clinics right away, Amazon said it will offer them up to $80 to get vaccinated offsite.
Throughout the pandemic, Amazon employees have criticized the company’s handling of the coronavirus and what they described as inadequate safety measures.
The leading e-commerce retailers had more than 1.2 million employees last year, according to Statista, a global business data platform.
