Workers at smaller Sask. grocery stores left off the list for vaccination priority

For a few moments last week, Charles Tooke breathed a sigh of relief on hearing the news Saskatchewan grocery store workers would be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines.

Tooke owns Lakeview Fine Foods in Regina, a small independent grocery store anchoring a strip of shops on Hill Avenue. For the past year, he and his 11 staff, most under the age of 40, have worked in constant contact with members of the public and each other, stocking shelves, bagging and delivering groceries, and constantly sanitizing the store. 

Most of the staff, including 44-year-old Tooke, are still not eligible for an age-based COVID vaccination, which is currently being offered to all people in the province 48 and older (that's expected to drop to 44 and older Thursday).

Last week, Tooke thought that had changed when the government announced plans to prioritize vaccines for front-line workers — a list that includes front-line health workers, first responders and some grocery store workers.

"Initially it sounded great. But then when we looked at the details, we realized we didn't qualify," Tooke said.

According to the government's COVID vaccination website, pharmacists will start offering vaccines to "pharmacy and grocery staff working in the facility where vaccines are offered."

That means the change will only apply for workers in larger grocery stores with in-house pharmacies, which Tooke doesn't think is fair.

"It was a little confusing as to why a small business with limited resources and limited staff would not qualify," he said. "If we were to have a [COVID-19] case come in through one of our staff, we would basically have to shut down. Some of the larger stores that are covered by this new policy would be fine."

Premier Scott Moe said Tuesday the decision was made to vaccinate staff in grocery stores with pharmacies because pharmacists will soon start vaccinating the public. It made sense to vaccinate workers in grocery stores offering vaccinations, Moe said.

Saskatchewan is constantly lowering the age of vaccine eligibility and will soon have all eligible adults vaccinated, the premier said.

"We'll all have equal priority at that point in time."

While Tooke says larger stores have an easier time spacing staff and customers out, at about 4,000 square feet, his store is small by grocery store standards. In the past year his business has doubled, Tooke said, meaning more customers through the doors and more potential exposure to the virus for staff.

"I try not to think about it a whole lot, and that makes it a lot easier."

All workers at risk should get priority: Meili

Ryan Meili, leader of the Opposition NDP, says any front-line grocery store worker at risk should be prioritized for vaccination.

"I don't like this idea that because you have one store that's got a pharmacy you can get the vaccine and if you work at another store that doesn't have a pharmacy you can't," Meili said.

Tooke said he's also worried about his older customers, and what would happen if the store had to shut down because of a positive case.

Lakeview Fine Foods offers a grocery delivery service and accepts orders by phone.

Tooke said many of his elderly customers prefer ordering their groceries by phone instead of using computer-based ordering, which many of the larger stores offer.

"If they're phoning here over the next two weeks and we have to close, a lot of them would be very panicked because they don't always have family or friends to help out and they rely 100 per cent on us to provide for them," he said.

"I'm not sure what would happen to them if we were just abruptly forced to shut the doors for a few weeks."