LYNN — Old Neighborhood Foods hosted its first of two vaccination clinics Friday for employees and their families at the company’s Waterhill Street headquarters.
Andrew Demakes, director of operations for Old Neighborhood Foods, said he hopes the centralized vaccination location will ease the nerves and hesitancy of employees.
“There’s just been a lot of people that have been nervous and apprehensive about getting the shot,” he said. “That’s the feedback that I’ve been getting talking to people.”
He said the goal of the clinics is to centralize the process, while also offering a $100 bonus to entice people to get the vaccine.
“We’re trying to get everybody on board with getting vaccinated and through what everybody’s gone through, we thought it would be a nice idea to say ‘hey, if you get vaccinated there’s a little bonus at the end of there,” Demakes said.
In an effort to make the process convenient for everyone, Demakes said the company is trying to schedule production around the clinic, which ran from 1 to 4 p.m. on Friday. Having the vaccinations at the end of the day was planned out of caution, since Demakes said they didn’t know how people would react to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“We’re giving certain departments off, just in case, so they’re not going to have to take off a day of work,” he said.
Old Neighborhood Foods is a manufacturer that offers a range of deli products packaged and distributed to stores and supermarkets. That industry has faced a lot of backlash throughout the pandemic regarding working in close quarters, Demakes said.
“We want to make sure that everyone is taken care of,” he said.
Lynn Community Health Center provided assistance with setting up the clinic. The health center will receive about a couple hundred doses for each clinic.
“We’ll offer it to some family members that haven’t gotten it yet as well, but primarily we are offering it for employees,” Demakes said.
While the clinic has received positive feedback from employees so far, Demakes said some people are still apprehensive.
“What we’re trying to do is strategically have certain people from each department go. That way, people that are apprehensive can say ‘oh well, they got it and they’re fine,’” he said.
Demakes is hopeful apprehensive employees will be encouraged to take the vaccine after seeing their co-workers get the shot. He added he has seen some immigrants who are hesitant of the vaccine, so he wants to make it as comfortable as possible for them, keeping their best interests at heart.
“All we care about is them getting the vaccine and being healthy,” he said. “We’re going to have a set-up with food and some beverages and snacks, just trying to make it as peaceful an environment as possible.”
Demakes said he has always believed he has the best employees, but was particularly proud of the way his staff has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re very fortunate to have the people that we have here, so we want to make sure that we try and do everything possible to help them,” he said.
Demakes hopes all of the employees will be able to, and want to, get vaccinated between the two clinic dates. The second clinic is scheduled for next Friday, April 16, from 1-4 p.m.
