• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

National Grain and Feed Association

Transforming America's Harvest

  • Sign In
  • News
    • NGFA Blog
    • Newsletter Archive (members only)
    • Press Releases
    • Podcast
  • Issues
    • Feed
    • Safety
    • Trade
    • Farm Bill
    • Transportation
    • Barge Digital Transformation (BDT) Project
  • Events
    • Calendar of Events
    • Convention
    • Country Elevator Conference & Trade Show
    • CONVEY
    • FSMA Courses
    • Trade Rules Seminar
  • Training
  • Advocacy
  • Arbitration
    • Arbitration Overview
    • Decisions
    • File a Complaint
    • Volunteer
  • Trade Rules
    • Trade Rules Overview
    • Trade Rules Committee
    • Order Rules Booklet
  • About
    • Officers and Staff
    • Committees
    • Strategic Alliances
    • State/Regional Affiliate Associations
  • Membership
    • Join the NGFA
    • Benefits & Services
    • Get Involved
    • Member Companies
    • Membership Directory (members only)
    • Committee Apprentice Program
  • Foundation

12.18.20 Newsletter

DHS encourages states to prioritize vaccinations for essential critical infrastructure workers

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Dec. 16 reissued and “repromoted” its “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce Guidance Version 4.0,” encouraging states and localities to take it into consideration when developing and executing plans for prioritizing the administration of COVID-19 vaccinations. 

“As the nation continues to respond to the pandemic, it is important that considerations regarding essential critical infrastructure workers continue to inform response policies and activities,” wrote DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which developed and issued the guidance. “The ability of these workers to perform their jobs safely is critical to our nation’s ability to maintain resilience of national critical functions.

“As the nation enters a new phase of pandemic response where vaccines are available in very limited supply, and where infection rates are driving the continued application of public health measures in communities, we encourage state and local health officials to use this guidance to support COVID-19 vaccine prioritization planning,” CISA continued. “This version is intended to help state, local, tribal, and territorial officials and organizations protect their workers and communities, and ensure the continued safe and secure operation of critical infrastructure. The guidance identifies the universe of essential workers that may require specialized risk management strategies to help them work safely.”

The DHS/CISA guidance document’s contents, which NGFA was involved heavily in helping draft with officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture, are unchanged from the version issued on Aug. 18. It includes a wide range of essential critical infrastructure workers in the food and agriculture sector. These include employees involved in grain elevator; feed, pet food and ingredient manufacturing; grain and oilseed processing and milling; biofuels; and export elevator operations. 

As reported in the Dec. 4 NGFA Newsletter, the NGFA on Dec. 1 helped author a letter signed by 25 national food and agricultural organizations to the National Governors Association, as well as President Trump and President-elect Biden, commending the expedited development and emergency use authorizations of COVID-19 vaccines under Operation Warp Speed, and encouraging governors to follow federal guidance for essential critical infrastructure workers when developing their vaccine prioritization plans. The two-page letters noted that including front-line workers in the food and agriculture sectors in the second-highest priority (after health care workers, those living in long-term care facilities and emergency responders) for vaccinations was consistent with recommendations issued by both the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook. 

However, it is the governors, in consultation with state health agencies and local officials, who ultimately are responsible for developing vaccination prioritization plans for their states. Importantly, most states have followed the DHS/CISA guidance when designating essential critical infrastructure workers. Thus, the agency’s “re-promoting” of its guidance serves as an important reminder and encouragement to the states to continue doing so. 

FDA later today is expected to grant emergency use authorization for a second vaccine – developed and manufactured by Moderna – following the Dec. 17 recommendation that it do so from the agency’s independent advisory committee.

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Topics

  • Arbitration Decision (692)
    • Corn (6)
    • Rail (3)
    • Soybeans (2)
    • Truck (1)
    • Wheat (3)
  • Board Reports (33)
  • Issue Advisory (18)
  • Newsletter (1,807)
  • Press Releases (269)
  • Subject-focused News (1,735)
    • Agriculture Policy (258)
    • Arbitration (35)
    • Biotechnology (104)
    • Education and Training (40)
    • Event News (217)
    • Feed (291)
    • Foundation (9)
    • NGFA (91)
    • Risk Management (131)
    • Safety, Health & Environment (196)
    • Trade (250)
    • Transportation (312)
  • Uncategorized (23)

Footer

National Grain and Feed Association

TwitterYoutubeFacebookLinkedin

Contact Us

ngfa@ngfa.org
1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 260
Arlington, VA 22202
202.289.0873

Member Login

Have an account? → Log in 
Need an account? → Register
Lost your account? → Reset

Manage Your Account

Copyright ©  2023 NGFA | All Rights Reserved
  • Sign in

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

Lacy Holleman
Manager of Legal Affairs and Arbitration

lholleman@ngfa.org

Lacy provides staff support for one of NGFA’s premier member services – its more than century old system of industry trade rules and arbitration that facilitates the efficient marketing of grains, oilseeds and their derived products. She also works on contracting, legal and other related matters.

An Arkansas native, Lacy received her undergraduate degree with a double major in history and Russian studies from the University of Tulsa (Okla.) and her law degree from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Prior to joining NGFA’s staff in November 2020, she managed a local business at the Pentagon and completed mediation training required by the North Carolina Supreme Court for those seeking to serve as mediators for settlement conferences and other settlement procedures in North Carolina Superior Court civil actions. She also has worked as an assistant for a law firm in her native state.