Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) offers a variety of free services to farms and farmworkers within the county. These services are provided to ensure that you, your workforce and your families remain healthy and resilient.

If this pandemic has taught us anything, the unexpected can happen and cause a major disruption to our work, daily routine, and even our health. You can help protect your operation, your workforce, and your families by offering the COVID-19 vaccination. 

Since we don’t know if there will be a resurgence of the COVID-19 illness this fall or how variants may affect us in Arizona, it is good to learn the facts about the available vaccines now so you can take steps to be protected. Once you and your workforce have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (fully vaccinated means it’s been 2 weeks since your second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccination or 2 weeks after a single-dose Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccination), you no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance (except when required by law or business guidelines). You can travel, attend gatherings and enjoy many of the things that you used to before the pandemic. Your COVID-19 vaccination also helps children – since only those 12 and over are approved to receive the current vaccines.

Access Free Services
 Here is a partial listing of just some of the free services available to you from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health

  • Free, on-site COVID-19 vaccinations to anyone 12 years and older from the County’s Mobile Unit
  • Free, on-site question and answer sessions. You ask and a health professional will give answers. This service is also available in multiple languages, upon request.
  • Free COVID-19 Testing via BINAX NOW that gives instant results on site

35 Farms, Nearly 3,000 Vaccinations
 Since February 2021, the MCDPH has vaccinated more than 2,978 farmworkers through partnerships with 35 local farms to bring the vaccine on site. In some cases, the events have been a collaborative effort with one farm hosting the vaccine event and inviting workers from multiple neighboring farms to participate.

Check out these videos that show what the on-site events looked like at Rosseau Farms and a local farmworkers vaccine event.

If you would like to host a free COVID-19 vaccination event on-site or collaborate with neighboring farms, the first step is to reach out to Alexandra Oropeza at alexandra.oropeza@maricopa.gov or Dalila Guerrero Dalila.Guerrero@maricopa.gov or call the call center at 602-506-6767. There is no cost to you and Maricopa County Public Health will coordinate the vaccine providers and provide the vaccine doses. 

Frequently Asked Questions
 It is perfectly normal to have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. Making sure that you and your workforce have factual answers from trusted sources is a top priority for Maricopa County Public Health. In addition to having a public health professional available to be on-site to answer questions, there is a website dedicated to providing this fact-based information. To make sure that the Arizona Farm Bureau The Voice readers have the same information, we’ve compiled these answers to some of the most frequently asked questions so that you can be prepared with facts:

  1. Residency: You do not need to be a resident of the U.S. or Arizona to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Maricopa County. Free vaccine is available to everyone including travelers, workers, and visitors.
  2. Identification: Any work badge or Matricula Consular can be used to get a free vaccine.
  3. Cost: The COVID-19 vaccine is free to everyone, regardless of citizenship, residency status, or insurance status - as long as the Public Health emergency declaration is in effect. The U.S.-issued identification is NOT necessary to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine in Maricopa County. 
  4. Safety: More than 3.4 million people in Maricopa County has received a COVID-19 vaccine. It is safe, effective, free, and one of the ways you can protect yourself and others from serious disease and even death.   For more info visit https://www.maricopa.gov/5686/Covid-19-Vaccine-Facts-and-FAQs  or in Spanish https://www.maricopa.gov/5688/Vacuna-Contra-COVID-19-Hechos. 
  1. Infertility: There is currently no evidence that COVID-19 vaccination causes any problems with pregnancy. There is no evidence that fertility problems are a side effect of any vaccine, including the COVID-19 vaccines. 
  2. Illness & Side Effects: None of the authorized and recommended COVID-19 vaccines or COVID-19 vaccines currently in development in the United States contain the live virus that causes COVID-19. This means that a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19. The most commonly reported side effects, which typically last several days, are pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever. Not everyone will experience side effects. Some people report no noticeable side effects.

Maricopa County Public Health appreciates the collective effort to pull together and bring COVID-19 vaccine and factual information into the agriculture community. If you, your colleagues, or your workers would like assistance in getting a COVID-19 vaccine or facts, Maricopa County Public Health has a multilingual call center that can provide answers to questions and even make vaccine appointments. Simply call 602-506-6767 or 2-1-1 ext. 271 to speak to a health educator, known as “promoter de Salud”, in Spanish. 

Get the facts at www.Maricopa.gov/COVID19vaccine and www.Maricopa.gov/VacunaCOVID19.