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Meat packer JBS SA will give away beef, pork and chicken for the next year to 50 U.S. families that participate in company-sponsored vaccination clinics over the coming weeks.
The Brazilian company’s arm in the United States and Pilgrim’s Pride, a U.S. chicken company mostly owned by JBS, came under fire last year as thousands of meat-packing workers fell sick with COVID-19. U.S. processing plants temporarily shut to contain outbreaks, tightening meat supplies and raising prices.
The companies said nearly 70 per cent of their 66,000 U.S. employees are now fully vaccinated and that they hope the meat giveaways encourage residents in rural areas, not just employees, around their facilities to get shots.
“We’ve made great progress, and our vaccination rates are much higher than the rates in the communities that we call home,” said Andre Nogueira, JBS USA chief executive.
