HANCOCK COUNTY — Andrew Fair’s face mask was decked with Amazon’s logo — a smile — but it’s just not the same as the real thing.
“I miss being able to smile at people,” the manager of the company’s Hancock County fulfillment center said.
Like most people, he longs for the normalcy he knew before the COVID-19 pandemic. And this week, the company and one of the county’s biggest employers made an effort in that regard by having a mass vaccination event. It put hundreds of shots in the arms of not only Amazon workers, but their family members as well.
The company’s 615,000-square foot facility for picking, packing and shipping online orders opened last October on the north side of County Road 300N west of 400W, where it employs more than 1,000.
Fair said more than 200 employees had signed up for doses during the event’s opening hours on Tuesday, and that hundreds more had registered for the days that followed.
“We have additional family members that are coming in as walk-ins,” he added. “We’re even telling people your uncle, aunt, whoever. Your neighbor that you like a lot — you want to bring him down? Let’s get as many people vaccinated so we can get back to normal.”
The event had about 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna, and the ability to get more if necessary, Fair said.
Amazon wants to make vaccinations accessible to employees who may be having trouble getting one, he continued.
“We understand it can be difficult to get away, with family commitments, to go get vaccinated,” he said.
Clinicians with a third-party contractor administered the shots in office space the fulfillment center uses for recruiting, training and on-boarding. After each shot, recipients at Amazon scheduled their second appointments, as Moderna’s vaccine requires two doses. In about three weeks, the clinicians will return to administer the final rounds.
Not only did the shots come at no cost to the employees, but they’re getting paid to receive them. Amazon is offering workers an incentive of $40 per dose, meaning they can get up to $80 getting vaccinated from COVID-19.
“It’s important to us because the more people we can get vaccinated, not only at our sites, but in our communities and the cities that we live and work in, the closer we can get back to normal as a nation,” Fair said. “That’s what gets me excited.”
A celebratory atmosphere surrounded the event Tuesday afternoon, complete with music and balloons along with free snacks, T-shirts and other swag for vaccine recipients.
Iris Ramirez, an employee at Amazon’s Hancock County fulfillment center, said she wanted to get vaccinated for the safety of her family. She appreciates her employer providing the opportunity.
“That’s awesome that they’re actually facilitating it,” she said. “And also the way they’re basically giving you incentives for it.”
Aissata Ouattara, who’s been working at the facility for six months, had similar reasons for rolling up her sleeve.
“I’m living with my family, I got a baby, and I’m living with my husband too,” she said. “I can get this vaccine so it can make me safe, and them too.”
Ouattara recalled how when COVID-19 first started ramping up, Amazon was one of the only sources from which she could order hand sanitizer — an item in high demand for its ability to kill the virus. Now, the company continues to help her through the pandemic by giving her an opportunity to get vaccinated.
“I can say thanks to Amazon,” she said.
Family was also the reason fellow employee Karla Rauda wanted to get vaccinated.
“Especially because I’m the only one going out,” she said. “My kids are home-schooled.”
Getting the shots where she works is hard to turn down.
“It’s really easy,” she said. “You don’t have to go out to do it; you can just do it here at work.”
Zackary Mongosa, loss prevention manager at the fulfillment center, feels a personal responsibility to get vaccinated.
“I think it’s important for everyone to do it to get to that herd immunity,” he said, referring to a situation in which enough members of a population become immune to an infectious disease that its spread becomes unlikely. “The sooner we can get back to normal, the better.”
He too appreciates his employer making the opportunity available.
“I think it shows their level of concern also with trying to get everything back to normal,” he said. “As a company, I think we’ve done a lot to ensure associate safety, and this is just another step in that direction.”
The event is part of Amazon’s plans to roll out the vaccine to 20,000 employees and their households in Indiana.
Mass vaccination events at places of employment don’t appear to be widespread in the county, according to local business and health officials.
Tim Livesay, director of pharmacy for Hancock Regional Hospital, said the hospital’s vaccine clinic had been in contact with some businesses, but that they lacked enough of a response for a trip to be worthwhile. Now that the hospital’s clinic accepts walk-ins, it’s easier for recipients to head out when it’s convenient for them, he added.
Staff has, however, traveled to the Greenfield-Central School Corporation to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to teachers and staff, Livesay said.
Long-term care facilities in the county also have had mass vaccination events for residents and staff shortly after vaccines began rolling out last winter.
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Hancock County
35,094: Number of fully vaccinated people
37,407: Number of people who have received the first vaccine doses in two-dose series (56.2% of population age 12+)
Indiana
2,346,698: Number of fully vaccinated people
2,539,739: Number of people who have received the first vaccine doses in two-dose series (43.5% of population age 12+)
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COVID-19 data through early Wednesday, May 19
Hancock County
- 354 new tests administered (May 5-18)
- 7 new cases (May 18)
- 5% seven-day (May 6-12) positivity rate all tests, 9.2% cumulative rate
- 0 new deaths
- 106,510 total tests administered
- 43,411 total individuals tested
- 8,384 total cases
- 8.6% seven-day (May 6-12) positivity rate unique individuals, 19.3% cumulative rate
- 142 total deaths
Indiana
- 22,013 new tests administered (May 15-18), 4,235 new individuals tested
- 819 new cases (May 18)
- 4.8% seven-day (May 6-12) positivity rate all tests, 8.7% cumulative rate
- 12 new deaths (Dec. 9, 2020-May 17, 2021)
- 10,230,447 total tests administered
- 3,461,505 total individuals tested
- 737,282 total cases
- 10.4% seven-day (May 6-12) positivity rate unique individuals, 21.3% cumulative rate
- 13,101 total deaths
- 417 total probable deaths
- 61.9% ICU beds in use – non-COVID
- 8.6% ICU beds in use – COVID
- 29.5% ICU beds available
- 19.9% ventilators in use – non-COVID
- 2.8% ventilators in use – COVID
- 77.2% ventilators available
- Hospital census: 850 total COVID-19 patients (610 confirmed, 240 under investigation)
- 2,497 total variant cases
- 89 total confirmed cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children
Source: Indiana State Department of Health
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