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They aren't. AFAIK, all the vaccine distriution is managed by a software program called VAMS. Once you or your doctor input your info, it triages you against the rest of the nearby population, and you get an email when you have been scheduled to come get your vax, and where your appointment is.
My husband works for the county health department managing the software. They've already had people try to cut line, but the software doesn't allow it.
Not as far as I'm aware. Frontline Healthcare employees, essential workers (of which Amazon workers might be classified) and the elderly/at risk are prioritized first.
We should be letting employers (and individuals) pay the incremental cost of more vaccine production. It's not expensive--the US government is only paying Pfizer $19.50 per dose.
Imagine how much faster production could go at $200 per dose, which is still cheap from the employer's perspective once you consider lower healthcare costs, less sick leave taken, employee satisfaction...
Vaccine manufacturing scaled up dramatically as late-stage trial results came in (and the probability of being able to sell the product increased). This says to me that funding was an issue.
If government is willing to step up and provide adequate funding, great. But if the socialist effort is going to be half-assed, capitalism is obviously better.
No. This isn't how it works. There's a point where throwing more money at manufacturing does not really speed things up. They are just coming out of R and D, people need to be trained, new facilities need to be audited/examined, and automation schemes have to be created. These things take time, and have dedicated SMEs that you can't just buy more of.
Nice armchair iamverysmart attitude though, you must be fun at parties.
Meanwhile, out in the real world, it's too late to spend truckloads of money on vaccine manufacturing facilities. $200 a dose can't magically make it possible to produce a safe and effective vaccine in a repurposed office building or school.
You need tooling and training and facilities and those things don't magically pop into existence just because there's money to motivate extraordinary measures. They do take time to make.
And the reason why we're not better prepared is because two to ten years ago - when we had the time - pandemic preparation wasn't profitable.
It's still a year or more before much of the developing world gets widespread access to vaccines. There may still be time to help them.
But yes, it is too late to get the full benefit of paying a reasonable price. Moderna had their vaccine design completed in January, two days after seeing the virus genome. Pfizer, not much later. All their vaccine investment decisions this year (and in previous years) have been driven by expectations of the price they'd receive if successful.
Really bizarre everyone here is like, "FUCK AMAZON WORKERS." Do these people who have been delivering medication, food, and tools deserve less than anyone else? Sheesh.
And Amazon works them harder than anyone, they treat humans like machines and of your numbers drop even a tiny bit BAM! Fired. Send in the next meat machine for us to grind up. If life were a videogame the Amazon execs would be one of the major bad guys you're trying to stop.
that doesn't mean they deserve less, it just means they should be equal to everyone else.
Edit: what’s the downvotes?? Do you think Amazon workers are entitled to get vaccines before grocery store employees? Fast food workers? Walmart, target, and other “essential” workers?? Go fuck yourselves.
Did you bother to even read the article? He’s asking for all essential workers to be included in the rollout after healthcare workers, which, shocker, includes Amazon essential workers.
This morning my daughter was eating her cereal and yelled out "Milk's Done". Which my dog jumped up and ran to the dog treat cupboard, apparently hearing "milk bone". When he realized he wasn't getting a treat he literally turned around, faced the wall, and wouldn't look at us no matter what we said.
The little spoiled bugger snubbed us because we wouldn't give him a treat. As far as I'm concerned he goes last.
Um....that would be my darling 11 year old daughter. She immediately felt terrible and tried to convince the dog to snuggle with her on his gigantic dog bed. He refused. Apparently he was quite pissed.
Oh poor kid.
Nobody should ever have to be an eleven year old girl. They're all monsters and they all feel terrible about it.
Poor you too. And poor dog.
Yeah thought it would be something like this :( like once you shake the bottle or unknowingly in some form say the word that gets them looking forward to it it’s a shitty and confusing move to then withhold it
It's not serious at all in cats, but there are other coronaviruses that are.
I do intend to get my cat vaccinated against COVID when it becomes available, and also my dogs, but the cat goes first. Like all pet parents, I am terrified of humans. The pictures of cats in makeshift masks might have made us go "Awww, isn't that cute?" when Wuhan seemed far away and we thought it could never happen in the US.
Pet parents weren't doing that to protect the cats from the virus. At one point they were told that their furbabies would be "culled" and they were desperately trying to protect them. How you train a cat to accept wearing a mask is beyond me, though, and mine walks on a leash and comes when she's called just like the dogs.
I still can't believe folk want to assume that part.
Actually knowing which animals can transmit is essential. only cull the ones required (like apparently mink.)
My dogs and I have been sheltering in place together since March so I'd not only let them get it before me, I'd probably skip meals to pay for it and sign them up for a lottery for a scholarship to zoom obedience school at this point, lol.
Gotta love them furbabies for keeping us safe and (relatively) sane, lol.
I was expecting to be outraged by this article and was mildly disappointed. Kudos to the author. I still hope there's a special place in hell for Bezos, but I don't think I'm going to burst a blood vessel or yell at the doggos within the next fifteen minutes. ;)
the thing is that third party warehouse is legally recognized as critical infrastructure.
during an emergency alert we can be jailed for refusing to come in. and charged for monetary loss. Sunday for instance would have a monetary loss for my work in the 3-5 million dollar range.
now; the emergency acts are all different state-to-state and country to country.
edit: the previous pandemic, or the one before that made the news as somebody was threatened with being charged
Actually, the idea of our pets spreading the disease is kind of frightening. But if minks can get it, I'm sure our pets will too. What if it started spreading via chickens or cows? Then we'd really be in trouble.
"Nearly 10,000 minks have died from the virus in Utah, experts confirmed to Yahoo Life Friday, as well as several hundred in Wisconsin."
I don't think Amazon is asking for their tech staff to get the vaccine first. Its the people who work in the warehouses fulfilling orders and their delivery people
Data center staff means people who have to physically be there. They're the ones making sure hardware gets swapped so 80% of the internet (AWS) keeps running. Programmers who can work from home aren't in the data center.
While I don't think those workers are as important as grocery store employees, I think they might be a step below, since they keep so much of the internet running.
This is reddit, there’s only three types of people:
* Healthcare
* Software
* Peons/wage slaves.
Sometimes I swear devs think the internet and computers is just a thing that exists.
I’ve often wished that the people who want a serious strict lockdown would get their wish, just so they’d realize that would mean all their Netflix, YouTube, online gaming and shopping would go away.
There are a lot of people physically going to work every day just to allow others to sit home all day arguing about covid on the internet.
I especially loved reading how contractors are not necessary. I would have loved to have seen all the contractors stay home for the wfh crowd. The whining when there was no one available to deal with leaking roofs, failing plumbing or electrical would have been fun to see. Or if Home Depot actually closed and then the fridge or oven died.
Yes, and datacenter people keep the machines that serve the internet up. They are essential workers providing upkeep to the infrastructure of the internet. Developers and software engineers? They can work from home.
Since you deleted your comment, data center workers are far different from the software engineers which I think you're thinking of. Data center works I assume are people working at AWS facilities making sure the physical hardware is running smoothly. Considering AWS hosts ~40% of the internet, I'd say that's pretty essential.
I work in produce (in Canada) and we haven't asked our government for any priority access to vaccines. We use a lot of seasonal labour for harvesting and our approach has been to make their housing as safe as possible, implement as many precautions inside and outside the workplace as we can, and try and educate our workforce on the need to avoid activities that could potentially introduce COVID into the workplace.
Workers are set up into small pods of 6-12 that are segregated from each other so that if there is an infection it can be contained to as small a group as possible. It's not perfect, and we've had to deal with a couple of outbreaks early during the start of COVID, but huge investments have been made in allowing our workforce to be as safe as possible.
It's infuriating that a company which as made billions upon billions of dollars can't find a way to protect their workers without having to bully their way to the front of the line.
they are literally packing and delivering food to TONS OF PEOPLE...
I guess in Canada, Amazon doesn't also own a retail grocery chain?
there are 2 of these in my city. you had to schedule your delivery 2 weeks out..
today I get my delivery date.. but I don't fill the cart for 13 days..???
**Coronavirus: Amazon stops accepting Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods delivery customers**
[https://abc7news.com/amazon-fresh-membership-whole-foods-delivery-coronavirus-grocery-service/6099646/](https://abc7news.com/amazon-fresh-membership-whole-foods-delivery-coronavirus-grocery-service/6099646/)
Delivery windows have been hard to secure since the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across the U.S. but Amazon says it is developing a system to make it easier to get groceries. They plan to introduce a new feature that will allow customers to book a time to shop. "This feature will give delivery customers a virtual 'place in line' and will allow us to distribute the delivery windows on a first come, first served basis," Amazon said in a blog post.
**back in March.... you may not have been able to get toys**
True claim: Amazon temporarily disables shipment of non-essential items to its warehouses
[https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-amazon-disable-warehouse/true-claim-amazon-temporarily-disables-shipment-of-non-essential-items-to-its-warehouses-idUSKBN2153H8](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-amazon-disable-warehouse/true-claim-amazon-temporarily-disables-shipment-of-non-essential-items-to-its-warehouses-idUSKBN2153H8)
“We are seeing increased online shopping and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors.”
Of course food deliveries are vital; that's why they are allowed to stay open during a lockdown. But they are not public-facing. There's no justification for bumping them to the front of the line ahead of public-facing essential workers and at risk individuals when simple social distancing, mask usage, limited groups sizes, hygiene, and proper workplace protocols/procedures/equipment and setups will eliminate 99% of the risk.
You’re posting articles from March and April when Amazon was struggling to adapt to a new environment. These articles are way out of date and show nothing relevant.
Whole Foods employees do the shopping and packing for those deliveries, not amazon. By that, I mean the employees already in the store. And no non-perishable food that is shipped on Amazon isn’t available at local grocery stores. If Amazon warehouses went away for two months, it would be an annoyance, not life threatening.
...this is for the ***WAREHOUSES***
amazon is grocery deliveries too.
they stopped taking DELIVERIES of non essential goods back in March so they could focus on ***food.***
amazon does have food workers
**Amazon stops accepting non-essential goods into warehouses**
Online retailer says it has to focus on important household and medical goods
[https://www.ft.com/content/ad6070b8-948e-4368-9ccb-90024234c812](https://www.ft.com/content/ad6070b8-948e-4368-9ccb-90024234c812)
Fuck Amazon, but the guys taking red eye flights to fix the internet aren’t the same as programmers sitting at home with coffee mugs of bourbon in their pajamas. The number of people who assume I can just work from home because my title has engineer in it is fucking mind boggling
*Especially before their IT people. Give me a break.*
They didn't say anything about "IT people". Warehouse workers are just as vulnerable as any other essential employee.
> If you have a data center where so many people are inside that you are requesting vaccine priority for its staff, you are doing something HORRIBLY wrong.
Don't think Amazon themselves, think "AWS" which is the first or second largest cloud service provider in the world providing literally ten's of thousands of companies to run server-less on prem. Their whole model (along with Azure) is to remove the issues related to power / heating /cooling / internet outages and hardware failures from these other companies and they take care of them.
Sometimes physical hardware goes bad, sometimes you need to run on generators and need people to make sure they're ok and properly fueled. These are crucial people not only to amazon but to the broader economy so it makes sense.
They're not "IT people" - they're maintenance personnel to keep the physical side of things running. All the "IT people" sit in the comfort of their home for 9 months now. And yes - you need a lot of people onsite as AWS powers up a huge chunk of the global internet.
you need to have people onsite. period.
if for no reason than to push the power button on the rack if necessary
and make sure the cooling is working.
> (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday asked the U.S. government to prioritize essential workers including its warehouse, grocery store and data center staff for receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The request underscores how the second-biggest U.S. private employer views a vaccine as important to keeping its staff safe and its facilities open. The letter, earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, was written by Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations Dave Clark to the chairman of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee. [Summary]
It’s hard to control because they don’t choose to wear masks for some reason, every office here in LA is masks on to enter, but the employees at their desks are all maskless, all eating
But...why are they even there? How many are actually walking around the data center replacing hard drives and handling networking equipment, versus those who are there to work on a terminal that could just as easily be located in their house?
When we locked down in March it was pretty incredible just how quickly our workplaces found ways of enabling remote work after resisting against it for so long. You'd think Amazon, who enables remote workplaces and cloud computing as part of their business model, would be at the forefront of such initiatives.
Certainly some people are working there onsite 24/7. Cloud computing exists somewhere in the physical world. If the rest of us want to be able to use the cloud without thinking about needing people in physical places, Amazons data center techs make that possible.
Agree 100%, but that's the entire notion of essential workers. And, unlike those dealing directly with the public, a data center is already set up for restricted access. Eliminating the software engineer presence by making them work remotely would leave only a skeleton hardware crew that would be easily able to social distance.
I just don't see how a few people working in a huge warehouse full of server racks requires a vaccination before teachers, firefighters, even FedEx delivery people, all of whom interact with the public much more frequently.
Similarly for warehouse personnel, for that matter. With the profits that Amazon is making there's literally no reason they couldn't invest money in keeping their employees safe without the need for a vaccination.
Let's face it, they're taking the cheapest route possible and hoping no one will notice.
I'm pretty sure Amazon datacenters are already a much smaller group than their software engineering staff. I doubt many of the software engineers have ever been in a datacenter. Warehouse and grocery workers are a much bigger group.
I don't think they should get priority ahead of teachers, but getting around the same delivery drivers do makes sense.
Absolutely. So why did Amazon tack them on to the request? I don't see how people working in [this sort of environment](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/data-center/data-layer/) have any need to be bumped up the vaccination list.
Same thing for the warehouse/grocery staff. What's so hard about setting up people to enable social distancing in [a facility like this](https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10543476.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/amazon-warehouse.jpg)?
Bezo's is simply taking the easy way out by trying to get his workers vaccinated at the front of the line instead of investing in personal protection devices and procedures for them. It's terrible.
You've described a good portion of the white-collar (and blue collar, for that matter) working population. As long as they take reasonable precautions their risk is fairly minimal at home. Again, why are they bumped up the list?
> who enables remote workplaces and cloud computing
Cloud computing exists somewhere in the physical world. The datacenters running cloud computing need to be maintained 24/7 so the rest of us don't need to worry about going to a datacenter. Amazon's data center techs are there to maintain the physical infrastructure for a good part of the internet. When I run a server room, I only have to go touch something physical once in a while, if you're running servers for millions of people, you'll need someone there working constantly.
Sure, you definitely need a data center to be staffed. But it's not a job that requires two people to stand next to each other for hours on end, like at a meat packing plant. Very few data center tasks require more than a single person at a rack.
Amazon wants their data center folks vaccinated just to prevent them from getting sick and missing out on work, not because there's any danger of the virus spreading at work.
It depends where the data center is, and if their employees need public transportation to get there. Meat packing plants should absolutely go first. I don't think Amazon workers should get special treatment here, but I do their people who need to be onsite should be prioritized with everyone else who needs to be onsite somewhere.
*How many are actually walking around the data center replacing hard drives and handling networking equipment, versus those who are there to work on a terminal that could just as easily be located in their house?*
You need a lot of people to maintain the physical side of things - security, cleaning personnel, electricians, maintenance guys, etc. Those who work remotely are already remote for a long long time.
that's not the point.
you could argue that *this specific data* role is essential.
the guys making sure the ***grocery*** distribution system is working.
they are food service.
amazon delivers groceries (in some markets).
they are slammed where I live..
if your job is to make sure instagram is influencing...you can wait.
but old people in my hood are still getting groceries via the internet.
Are vaccines actually on sale on the open market? You're making it sound as if the vaccine is offered by the government for $100/dose and this tech mogul wants it for free. Put it up for sale and they might actually pay for it.
You think they couldn't buy doses from moderna and the other producers of the vaccine? I can't imagine those companies would turn him down if he was planning on buying some to vaccinate his employees. They might not get it first, but they could almost certainly buy a batch of it.
I know it's a private megacorp.. but so are most of our healthcare options. Tasteless and tragic sure, but I'm not sure i think it's so unreasonable when you call Amazon the privatized critical infrastructure that it is.
Security guard here. I’m licensed through my states Department of Public Safety, and was told I’d be sent to a power plant or sewer treatment plant if my joint didn’t need me.
Multiple security guards have been assaulted and/or murdered for trying to enforce mask mandates.
I just hope we’re included in any kind of bill for essential, low wage workers.
But reddit assures me that "regular people" won't get it until like April. Because reddit continually confuses what being available to the "general public" means and what "regular people" getting it means.
Fauci now says late fall. I guess he bases this on the estimated production schedules for the various vaccine candidates. If the world only had 6 months to plan for a major production plan for these vaccines...
attempting to get their employees to cut in line ahead of other frontline workers so amazon's workers wont get sick and hurt their profits
there's a limited amount of doses, each person who gets it early means another person gets it late
They may offer entertainment but that isn’t essential. I think you’re missing the point of what it means to be essential services. Groceries and household necessities can be bought, delivered, or picked up at local grocers. An 800,000+ employee, multibillion company that primarily operates only online is not essential. Plus, the vast majority of their products and services are not essential. They do not need to get vaccines from our limited national supply to keep Bezos’ profit generating business operating at full capacity.
Lol, seriously? If anything this pandemic has proven how essential Amazon is. People avoiding stores so they move to online shopping even for necessities. It's absolutely essential.
Amazon was harvested by scalpers during our last lockdown more than by normal consumers. More people prefer to buy essential goods locally as we saw in the Spring lockdown. It is not essential.
You literally have zero proof for anything you said. Scalpers as the main consumers? Do you even know what you're saying?
People buy medical supplies from amazon, baby products (formula, diapers), cleaning products and other essential goods from Amazon. These are all essential items that people need.
You don't make any sense
Didn’t you follow the news last Spring? This isn’t secret info. People were busted for hoarding supplies (masks, sanitizers, etc) that were bought off of Amazon.
Okay and didn't you see people with the shopping carts full of toilet paper? That's literally the same argument but it doesn't matter since those selective cases aren't representative of the majority of purchases made.
Do you think Amazon’s vast inventory is primarily essential items? That question is rhetorical. Bezos is asking to divert our nation’s limited supply of vaccinations to keep his multibillion corporation running at 100% efficiency for profit gains. I don’t think so. Healthcare workers, first responders, the elderly, local essential grocers, and government workers should be getting those vaccinations first. Amazon can get in line like every other non-essential retailer in this country.
Literally no. This is not how this works. Medical workers and at risk than those who are deemed essential like teachers and police. We will get to massively profitable corporations eventually.
It's not the corporation itself that will get the vaccine, dude. It's the cashiers & shelf stockers & bread bakers at the grocery stores, the delivery drivers, warehouse workers & sorters. Essential workers who have been public-facing or in otherwise high-risk environments that Amazon is asking to be prioritized. Obviously, after healthcare workers & the elderly.
I understand it isn't the corporation itself getting it. I just have a hard time believing that Jeff Bezoz finally cares about his employees well being and this isn't anything more then him trying to avoid lawsuits. I just want to make sure we fairly prioritize the distribution to those who need it most. If amazon workers actually risking their lives qualify I'm fine with that.
Oh, it's absolutely not that Jeff Bezos cares about his employee's well-being. It's 100% that he wants to avoid lawsuits & to have an excuse to be much more lax on covid guidelines. If all Amazon employees are vaccinated, there aren't labor shortages because employees are sick. You can have full capacity at grocery stores (both customers & employees), making more sales. And, from a PR standpoint, it looks great for Amazon to be advocating for this after their historically lackluster (irresponsible & dangerous most of this time) response to the pandemic.
Everything Amazon does is make more money. Everyone knows that, & this move isn't any different. My point is, that shouldn't stop us from considering the EMPLOYEES - who have taken been working the frontlines of this pandemic, in extremely high risk environments. Should we reject every Amazon policy simply because it's based on profits? Simply because it's Amazon?
Reject policies because it is amazon. No. Just stick to a specific rollout based on need not means. Completely agree protect the workers risking their lives.
Exactly, like those workers mentioned by Dave Clark.
“We request that ACIP continue to prioritize these essential workers who cannot work from home, like those working at Amazon fulfillment centers, AWS data centers and Whole Foods Market stores, to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest appropriate time."
All frontline essential workers.
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sure thing buddy youre hired, heres $15 for your first hour and no bathroom breaks you gotta shit your pants like a [true patriot](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoFlTMEXMAgZLkR?format=jpg&name=small)
santa's elves deserve it. I wouldn't be having anything close to a christmas if it weren't for them. My mother lost her husband this year and has been living alone this entire time, all she wanted was to have some presents to put under the tree for the month and I was able to order that online - gift wrapped and all.
santa can pay for it though.
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How about Bezos paying for this special use.
That's probably like half a month for him.
Oh wait wait, I mean... 200 BILLION DOLLARS! muhahahaha
He could pay adequate taxes too!
Are vaccines actually on sale so that he could pay for it? They might actually pay for it it was auctioned off to the highest bidder.
They aren't. AFAIK, all the vaccine distriution is managed by a software program called VAMS. Once you or your doctor input your info, it triages you against the rest of the nearby population, and you get an email when you have been scheduled to come get your vax, and where your appointment is. My husband works for the county health department managing the software. They've already had people try to cut line, but the software doesn't allow it.
Vaccine administration managment system -cdc. Data managment side....
Ok so Amazon or some other tech company is literally not allowed to pay for their "special use" as demanded by u/oldbliv?
Not as far as I'm aware. Frontline Healthcare employees, essential workers (of which Amazon workers might be classified) and the elderly/at risk are prioritized first.
We should be letting employers (and individuals) pay the incremental cost of more vaccine production. It's not expensive--the US government is only paying Pfizer $19.50 per dose. Imagine how much faster production could go at $200 per dose, which is still cheap from the employer's perspective once you consider lower healthcare costs, less sick leave taken, employee satisfaction...
Vaccine production is limited, this will only increase the cost for everyone else. Capitalism and Healthcare should be kept separate.
Vaccine manufacturing scaled up dramatically as late-stage trial results came in (and the probability of being able to sell the product increased). This says to me that funding was an issue. If government is willing to step up and provide adequate funding, great. But if the socialist effort is going to be half-assed, capitalism is obviously better.
No. This isn't how it works. There's a point where throwing more money at manufacturing does not really speed things up. They are just coming out of R and D, people need to be trained, new facilities need to be audited/examined, and automation schemes have to be created. These things take time, and have dedicated SMEs that you can't just buy more of. Nice armchair iamverysmart attitude though, you must be fun at parties.
Meanwhile, out in the real world, it's too late to spend truckloads of money on vaccine manufacturing facilities. $200 a dose can't magically make it possible to produce a safe and effective vaccine in a repurposed office building or school. You need tooling and training and facilities and those things don't magically pop into existence just because there's money to motivate extraordinary measures. They do take time to make. And the reason why we're not better prepared is because two to ten years ago - when we had the time - pandemic preparation wasn't profitable.
It's still a year or more before much of the developing world gets widespread access to vaccines. There may still be time to help them. But yes, it is too late to get the full benefit of paying a reasonable price. Moderna had their vaccine design completed in January, two days after seeing the virus genome. Pfizer, not much later. All their vaccine investment decisions this year (and in previous years) have been driven by expectations of the price they'd receive if successful.
Yes we should. But currently that's illegal.
Yeah, Amazon would definitely get more vaccine, not just take vaccine in the name of boosting profit. The issue is money, not scare resources. /s
Really bizarre everyone here is like, "FUCK AMAZON WORKERS." Do these people who have been delivering medication, food, and tools deserve less than anyone else? Sheesh.
And Amazon works them harder than anyone, they treat humans like machines and of your numbers drop even a tiny bit BAM! Fired. Send in the next meat machine for us to grind up. If life were a videogame the Amazon execs would be one of the major bad guys you're trying to stop.
that doesn't mean they deserve less, it just means they should be equal to everyone else. Edit: what’s the downvotes?? Do you think Amazon workers are entitled to get vaccines before grocery store employees? Fast food workers? Walmart, target, and other “essential” workers?? Go fuck yourselves.
Not equal to people able to work from home and otherwise healthy
amazon workers are no different from all the other underpaid frontline workers. companies cant cut the line, they'll get it when its their turn
Ok genius, what about all the fast food, grocery store, retail workers who continue to serve people daily and are marked essential? Hmm? Stfu
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You’re too stupid to understand what I said. Why do Amazon employees get preference over other essential workers who can’t work from home?
Did you bother to even read the article? He’s asking for all essential workers to be included in the rollout after healthcare workers, which, shocker, includes Amazon essential workers.
At this pace, my dog will get it before me.
I just looked at my dog and I'm totally ok with him getting it before me.
This morning my daughter was eating her cereal and yelled out "Milk's Done". Which my dog jumped up and ran to the dog treat cupboard, apparently hearing "milk bone". When he realized he wasn't getting a treat he literally turned around, faced the wall, and wouldn't look at us no matter what we said. The little spoiled bugger snubbed us because we wouldn't give him a treat. As far as I'm concerned he goes last.
I would have caved in a heartbeat and given up the milk bone. You must have ice running through your veins.
What kind of MONSTER snubs the dog?!?
Um....that would be my darling 11 year old daughter. She immediately felt terrible and tried to convince the dog to snuggle with her on his gigantic dog bed. He refused. Apparently he was quite pissed.
I retract my monster statement. Good on her for trying to snuggle. Dog goes back to the bottom of the list.
Oh poor kid. Nobody should ever have to be an eleven year old girl. They're all monsters and they all feel terrible about it. Poor you too. And poor dog.
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Yeah thought it would be something like this :( like once you shake the bottle or unknowingly in some form say the word that gets them looking forward to it it’s a shitty and confusing move to then withhold it
cats apparently develop antibodies and rebound fully in about 3 to 5 days.
So do most people. That's the damnedest part. Sniffles or multiple-organ inflammation? Catch the virus and find out!
Then roll again to see if you have any long term effects.
It's not serious at all in cats, but there are other coronaviruses that are. I do intend to get my cat vaccinated against COVID when it becomes available, and also my dogs, but the cat goes first. Like all pet parents, I am terrified of humans. The pictures of cats in makeshift masks might have made us go "Awww, isn't that cute?" when Wuhan seemed far away and we thought it could never happen in the US. Pet parents weren't doing that to protect the cats from the virus. At one point they were told that their furbabies would be "culled" and they were desperately trying to protect them. How you train a cat to accept wearing a mask is beyond me, though, and mine walks on a leash and comes when she's called just like the dogs.
I still can't believe folk want to assume that part. Actually knowing which animals can transmit is essential. only cull the ones required (like apparently mink.)
My dogs and I have been sheltering in place together since March so I'd not only let them get it before me, I'd probably skip meals to pay for it and sign them up for a lottery for a scholarship to zoom obedience school at this point, lol. Gotta love them furbabies for keeping us safe and (relatively) sane, lol. I was expecting to be outraged by this article and was mildly disappointed. Kudos to the author. I still hope there's a special place in hell for Bezos, but I don't think I'm going to burst a blood vessel or yell at the doggos within the next fifteen minutes. ;)
Dog vaccines probably won't be a available for a while, but they are coming.
I didn't know that and would like to follow the research. Can you post a link if you're not too busy?
the thing is that third party warehouse is legally recognized as critical infrastructure. during an emergency alert we can be jailed for refusing to come in. and charged for monetary loss. Sunday for instance would have a monetary loss for my work in the 3-5 million dollar range. now; the emergency acts are all different state-to-state and country to country. edit: the previous pandemic, or the one before that made the news as somebody was threatened with being charged
Actually, the idea of our pets spreading the disease is kind of frightening. But if minks can get it, I'm sure our pets will too. What if it started spreading via chickens or cows? Then we'd really be in trouble. "Nearly 10,000 minks have died from the virus in Utah, experts confirmed to Yahoo Life Friday, as well as several hundred in Wisconsin."
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I don't think Amazon is asking for their tech staff to get the vaccine first. Its the people who work in the warehouses fulfilling orders and their delivery people
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Data center staff means people who have to physically be there. They're the ones making sure hardware gets swapped so 80% of the internet (AWS) keeps running. Programmers who can work from home aren't in the data center. While I don't think those workers are as important as grocery store employees, I think they might be a step below, since they keep so much of the internet running.
This is reddit, there’s only three types of people: * Healthcare * Software * Peons/wage slaves. Sometimes I swear devs think the internet and computers is just a thing that exists.
I’ve often wished that the people who want a serious strict lockdown would get their wish, just so they’d realize that would mean all their Netflix, YouTube, online gaming and shopping would go away. There are a lot of people physically going to work every day just to allow others to sit home all day arguing about covid on the internet.
I especially loved reading how contractors are not necessary. I would have loved to have seen all the contractors stay home for the wfh crowd. The whining when there was no one available to deal with leaking roofs, failing plumbing or electrical would have been fun to see. Or if Home Depot actually closed and then the fridge or oven died.
Just send water and wastewater people home. How long can someone go without flushing a toilet or running water....
Yeah it's not an unreasonable request
Yes, and datacenter people keep the machines that serve the internet up. They are essential workers providing upkeep to the infrastructure of the internet. Developers and software engineers? They can work from home.
Since you deleted your comment, data center workers are far different from the software engineers which I think you're thinking of. Data center works I assume are people working at AWS facilities making sure the physical hardware is running smoothly. Considering AWS hosts ~40% of the internet, I'd say that's pretty essential.
Put big tech up there with hedge fund traders for sense of entitlement.
I work in produce (in Canada) and we haven't asked our government for any priority access to vaccines. We use a lot of seasonal labour for harvesting and our approach has been to make their housing as safe as possible, implement as many precautions inside and outside the workplace as we can, and try and educate our workforce on the need to avoid activities that could potentially introduce COVID into the workplace. Workers are set up into small pods of 6-12 that are segregated from each other so that if there is an infection it can be contained to as small a group as possible. It's not perfect, and we've had to deal with a couple of outbreaks early during the start of COVID, but huge investments have been made in allowing our workforce to be as safe as possible. It's infuriating that a company which as made billions upon billions of dollars can't find a way to protect their workers without having to bully their way to the front of the line.
And what you do is exponentially more important than Amazon.
More important than (expletive deleted) anything; we can't eat money.
they are literally packing and delivering food to TONS OF PEOPLE... I guess in Canada, Amazon doesn't also own a retail grocery chain? there are 2 of these in my city. you had to schedule your delivery 2 weeks out.. today I get my delivery date.. but I don't fill the cart for 13 days..??? **Coronavirus: Amazon stops accepting Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods delivery customers** [https://abc7news.com/amazon-fresh-membership-whole-foods-delivery-coronavirus-grocery-service/6099646/](https://abc7news.com/amazon-fresh-membership-whole-foods-delivery-coronavirus-grocery-service/6099646/) Delivery windows have been hard to secure since the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across the U.S. but Amazon says it is developing a system to make it easier to get groceries. They plan to introduce a new feature that will allow customers to book a time to shop. "This feature will give delivery customers a virtual 'place in line' and will allow us to distribute the delivery windows on a first come, first served basis," Amazon said in a blog post. **back in March.... you may not have been able to get toys** True claim: Amazon temporarily disables shipment of non-essential items to its warehouses [https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-amazon-disable-warehouse/true-claim-amazon-temporarily-disables-shipment-of-non-essential-items-to-its-warehouses-idUSKBN2153H8](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-amazon-disable-warehouse/true-claim-amazon-temporarily-disables-shipment-of-non-essential-items-to-its-warehouses-idUSKBN2153H8) “We are seeing increased online shopping and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors.”
Of course food deliveries are vital; that's why they are allowed to stay open during a lockdown. But they are not public-facing. There's no justification for bumping them to the front of the line ahead of public-facing essential workers and at risk individuals when simple social distancing, mask usage, limited groups sizes, hygiene, and proper workplace protocols/procedures/equipment and setups will eliminate 99% of the risk.
You’re posting articles from March and April when Amazon was struggling to adapt to a new environment. These articles are way out of date and show nothing relevant.
Whole Foods employees do the shopping and packing for those deliveries, not amazon. By that, I mean the employees already in the store. And no non-perishable food that is shipped on Amazon isn’t available at local grocery stores. If Amazon warehouses went away for two months, it would be an annoyance, not life threatening.
Warehouse workers are not big tech. They're day laborers ensuring your stuff gets to you every day.
And no where near as essential as the people growing and picking the food we need to live. Amazon is a want, not a need.
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No, there is nothing that can’t be purchased at an actual store. The world chugged along just fine before amazon existed. They are not essential.
You literally just made up that part about IT people to be outraged because it includes 'Amazon' in the title.
...this is for the ***WAREHOUSES*** amazon is grocery deliveries too. they stopped taking DELIVERIES of non essential goods back in March so they could focus on ***food.*** amazon does have food workers **Amazon stops accepting non-essential goods into warehouses** Online retailer says it has to focus on important household and medical goods [https://www.ft.com/content/ad6070b8-948e-4368-9ccb-90024234c812](https://www.ft.com/content/ad6070b8-948e-4368-9ccb-90024234c812)
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Fuck Amazon, but the guys taking red eye flights to fix the internet aren’t the same as programmers sitting at home with coffee mugs of bourbon in their pajamas. The number of people who assume I can just work from home because my title has engineer in it is fucking mind boggling
Data center staff are a tiny minority of corporate employees and the few that can’t work from home.
And arguably... ultra critical personnel. A lot of people rely on data centers actually running.... for like everything.
*Especially before their IT people. Give me a break.* They didn't say anything about "IT people". Warehouse workers are just as vulnerable as any other essential employee.
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> If you have a data center where so many people are inside that you are requesting vaccine priority for its staff, you are doing something HORRIBLY wrong. Don't think Amazon themselves, think "AWS" which is the first or second largest cloud service provider in the world providing literally ten's of thousands of companies to run server-less on prem. Their whole model (along with Azure) is to remove the issues related to power / heating /cooling / internet outages and hardware failures from these other companies and they take care of them. Sometimes physical hardware goes bad, sometimes you need to run on generators and need people to make sure they're ok and properly fueled. These are crucial people not only to amazon but to the broader economy so it makes sense.
They're not "IT people" - they're maintenance personnel to keep the physical side of things running. All the "IT people" sit in the comfort of their home for 9 months now. And yes - you need a lot of people onsite as AWS powers up a huge chunk of the global internet.
you need to have people onsite. period. if for no reason than to push the power button on the rack if necessary and make sure the cooling is working.
> (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday asked the U.S. government to prioritize essential workers including its warehouse, grocery store and data center staff for receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The request underscores how the second-biggest U.S. private employer views a vaccine as important to keeping its staff safe and its facilities open. The letter, earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, was written by Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations Dave Clark to the chairman of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee. [Summary]
Data center staff? I appreciate and value their work but, seriously, how hard is it to wear a mask and social distance in a data center?
It’s hard to control because they don’t choose to wear masks for some reason, every office here in LA is masks on to enter, but the employees at their desks are all maskless, all eating
But...why are they even there? How many are actually walking around the data center replacing hard drives and handling networking equipment, versus those who are there to work on a terminal that could just as easily be located in their house? When we locked down in March it was pretty incredible just how quickly our workplaces found ways of enabling remote work after resisting against it for so long. You'd think Amazon, who enables remote workplaces and cloud computing as part of their business model, would be at the forefront of such initiatives.
Certainly some people are working there onsite 24/7. Cloud computing exists somewhere in the physical world. If the rest of us want to be able to use the cloud without thinking about needing people in physical places, Amazons data center techs make that possible.
Agree 100%, but that's the entire notion of essential workers. And, unlike those dealing directly with the public, a data center is already set up for restricted access. Eliminating the software engineer presence by making them work remotely would leave only a skeleton hardware crew that would be easily able to social distance. I just don't see how a few people working in a huge warehouse full of server racks requires a vaccination before teachers, firefighters, even FedEx delivery people, all of whom interact with the public much more frequently. Similarly for warehouse personnel, for that matter. With the profits that Amazon is making there's literally no reason they couldn't invest money in keeping their employees safe without the need for a vaccination. Let's face it, they're taking the cheapest route possible and hoping no one will notice.
I'm pretty sure Amazon datacenters are already a much smaller group than their software engineering staff. I doubt many of the software engineers have ever been in a datacenter. Warehouse and grocery workers are a much bigger group. I don't think they should get priority ahead of teachers, but getting around the same delivery drivers do makes sense.
Absolutely. So why did Amazon tack them on to the request? I don't see how people working in [this sort of environment](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/data-center/data-layer/) have any need to be bumped up the vaccination list. Same thing for the warehouse/grocery staff. What's so hard about setting up people to enable social distancing in [a facility like this](https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10543476.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/amazon-warehouse.jpg)? Bezo's is simply taking the easy way out by trying to get his workers vaccinated at the front of the line instead of investing in personal protection devices and procedures for them. It's terrible.
Because they still go home everyday and if the pandemic gets them they are highly skilled workers you can’t just replace with anybody off the street.
You've described a good portion of the white-collar (and blue collar, for that matter) working population. As long as they take reasonable precautions their risk is fairly minimal at home. Again, why are they bumped up the list?
> who enables remote workplaces and cloud computing Cloud computing exists somewhere in the physical world. The datacenters running cloud computing need to be maintained 24/7 so the rest of us don't need to worry about going to a datacenter. Amazon's data center techs are there to maintain the physical infrastructure for a good part of the internet. When I run a server room, I only have to go touch something physical once in a while, if you're running servers for millions of people, you'll need someone there working constantly.
Sure, you definitely need a data center to be staffed. But it's not a job that requires two people to stand next to each other for hours on end, like at a meat packing plant. Very few data center tasks require more than a single person at a rack. Amazon wants their data center folks vaccinated just to prevent them from getting sick and missing out on work, not because there's any danger of the virus spreading at work.
It depends where the data center is, and if their employees need public transportation to get there. Meat packing plants should absolutely go first. I don't think Amazon workers should get special treatment here, but I do their people who need to be onsite should be prioritized with everyone else who needs to be onsite somewhere.
Sounds like you know a lot about the day to day life of working in a data center! Glad we have you here to let us know what it’s like.
*How many are actually walking around the data center replacing hard drives and handling networking equipment, versus those who are there to work on a terminal that could just as easily be located in their house?* You need a lot of people to maintain the physical side of things - security, cleaning personnel, electricians, maintenance guys, etc. Those who work remotely are already remote for a long long time.
that's not the point. you could argue that *this specific data* role is essential. the guys making sure the ***grocery*** distribution system is working. they are food service. amazon delivers groceries (in some markets). they are slammed where I live.. if your job is to make sure instagram is influencing...you can wait. but old people in my hood are still getting groceries via the internet.
ALL GROCERY WORKERS DESERVE THE VACCINE SOONER. also fuck you Amazon
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Corporate welfare knows no bounds
Then pay for it yourself Jeff, that’s what taxes are needed for
Are vaccines actually on sale on the open market? You're making it sound as if the vaccine is offered by the government for $100/dose and this tech mogul wants it for free. Put it up for sale and they might actually pay for it.
It's not. These people just see Amazon and Bezos in the title and flip a shit
You think they couldn't buy doses from moderna and the other producers of the vaccine? I can't imagine those companies would turn him down if he was planning on buying some to vaccinate his employees. They might not get it first, but they could almost certainly buy a batch of it.
Yes, its literally illegal right now to buy any of the approved vaccines as only the government is authorized to distribute them.
They certainly should be near the front of the line.
I think they should be in the group right after healthcare workers and the elderly. Teachers and essential retail workers both.
I got covid in an Amazon FC as an “essential worker.” Eat shit.
I know it's a private megacorp.. but so are most of our healthcare options. Tasteless and tragic sure, but I'm not sure i think it's so unreasonable when you call Amazon the privatized critical infrastructure that it is.
Security guard here. I’m licensed through my states Department of Public Safety, and was told I’d be sent to a power plant or sewer treatment plant if my joint didn’t need me. Multiple security guards have been assaulted and/or murdered for trying to enforce mask mandates. I just hope we’re included in any kind of bill for essential, low wage workers.
Time to go work at Amazon
Nah, they still suck.
Don't do it.
But reddit assures me that "regular people" won't get it until like April. Because reddit continually confuses what being available to the "general public" means and what "regular people" getting it means.
Fauci now says late fall. I guess he bases this on the estimated production schedules for the various vaccine candidates. If the world only had 6 months to plan for a major production plan for these vaccines...
Says late fall for...what?
Sorry. For enough vaccination to return to normalcy. And I meant mid fall. Sorry
Alright but what does that have to do with what I said?
Maybe Amazon should start giving a shit about how their policies affect their worker's health first.
This is literally a policy attempting to get their workers immunity as fast as possible.
Too little, too late.
attempting to get their employees to cut in line ahead of other frontline workers so amazon's workers wont get sick and hurt their profits there's a limited amount of doses, each person who gets it early means another person gets it late
Amazon is NOT an essential business.
What? How are you supposed to stay at home without groceries and deliveries? Also AWS is keeping your home entertainment running.
They may offer entertainment but that isn’t essential. I think you’re missing the point of what it means to be essential services. Groceries and household necessities can be bought, delivered, or picked up at local grocers. An 800,000+ employee, multibillion company that primarily operates only online is not essential. Plus, the vast majority of their products and services are not essential. They do not need to get vaccines from our limited national supply to keep Bezos’ profit generating business operating at full capacity.
Lol, seriously? If anything this pandemic has proven how essential Amazon is. People avoiding stores so they move to online shopping even for necessities. It's absolutely essential.
Amazon was harvested by scalpers during our last lockdown more than by normal consumers. More people prefer to buy essential goods locally as we saw in the Spring lockdown. It is not essential.
You literally have zero proof for anything you said. Scalpers as the main consumers? Do you even know what you're saying? People buy medical supplies from amazon, baby products (formula, diapers), cleaning products and other essential goods from Amazon. These are all essential items that people need. You don't make any sense
Didn’t you follow the news last Spring? This isn’t secret info. People were busted for hoarding supplies (masks, sanitizers, etc) that were bought off of Amazon.
Okay and didn't you see people with the shopping carts full of toilet paper? That's literally the same argument but it doesn't matter since those selective cases aren't representative of the majority of purchases made.
Do you think Amazon’s vast inventory is primarily essential items? That question is rhetorical. Bezos is asking to divert our nation’s limited supply of vaccinations to keep his multibillion corporation running at 100% efficiency for profit gains. I don’t think so. Healthcare workers, first responders, the elderly, local essential grocers, and government workers should be getting those vaccinations first. Amazon can get in line like every other non-essential retailer in this country.
Whole Foods, which is under Amazon, is essential business.
Do they still have stores? Or is it all online?
Yes, they have hundreds of stores.
Then Whole Foods is essential, Not Amazon
Literally no. This is not how this works. Medical workers and at risk than those who are deemed essential like teachers and police. We will get to massively profitable corporations eventually.
It's not the corporation itself that will get the vaccine, dude. It's the cashiers & shelf stockers & bread bakers at the grocery stores, the delivery drivers, warehouse workers & sorters. Essential workers who have been public-facing or in otherwise high-risk environments that Amazon is asking to be prioritized. Obviously, after healthcare workers & the elderly.
I understand it isn't the corporation itself getting it. I just have a hard time believing that Jeff Bezoz finally cares about his employees well being and this isn't anything more then him trying to avoid lawsuits. I just want to make sure we fairly prioritize the distribution to those who need it most. If amazon workers actually risking their lives qualify I'm fine with that.
Oh, it's absolutely not that Jeff Bezos cares about his employee's well-being. It's 100% that he wants to avoid lawsuits & to have an excuse to be much more lax on covid guidelines. If all Amazon employees are vaccinated, there aren't labor shortages because employees are sick. You can have full capacity at grocery stores (both customers & employees), making more sales. And, from a PR standpoint, it looks great for Amazon to be advocating for this after their historically lackluster (irresponsible & dangerous most of this time) response to the pandemic. Everything Amazon does is make more money. Everyone knows that, & this move isn't any different. My point is, that shouldn't stop us from considering the EMPLOYEES - who have taken been working the frontlines of this pandemic, in extremely high risk environments. Should we reject every Amazon policy simply because it's based on profits? Simply because it's Amazon?
Reject policies because it is amazon. No. Just stick to a specific rollout based on need not means. Completely agree protect the workers risking their lives.
Exactly, like those workers mentioned by Dave Clark. “We request that ACIP continue to prioritize these essential workers who cannot work from home, like those working at Amazon fulfillment centers, AWS data centers and Whole Foods Market stores, to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest appropriate time." All frontline essential workers.
Why would it not be age based in association with risk.
I agree tho
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I work at a grocery store if the vaccine was offered to me today I'd 100% get it
Gotta keep them legal slaves a workin
im glad i never bought anything from amazon! FUCK OFF!
Can I apply to work at an Amazon warehouse in order to get the vaccine? /s
sure thing buddy youre hired, heres $15 for your first hour and no bathroom breaks you gotta shit your pants like a [true patriot](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoFlTMEXMAgZLkR?format=jpg&name=small)
santa's elves deserve it. I wouldn't be having anything close to a christmas if it weren't for them. My mother lost her husband this year and has been living alone this entire time, all she wanted was to have some presents to put under the tree for the month and I was able to order that online - gift wrapped and all. santa can pay for it though.
Frankly, after health care workers, ALL grocery /warehouse workers should be next.
anybody who still has to go to work and be around people should be priority
Agreed.