ESC is pleased to learn that the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has announced additional COVID-19 vaccine eligibility for some utility workers. PG&E issued a notice to workers with additional information about eligibility requirements and details for how to register to receive your vaccine, if you qualify.

Please see below for the full message from PG&E, and reach out to your union representative or steward if you have any questions.

 

PG&E Team –

Last week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced additional COVID-19 vaccine eligibility for some utility workers. Here’s what you need to know about eligibility, and how to sign up for a vaccination appointment, for those who wish to do so.

Eligibility and Intent

According to the CDPH, utility workers who provide support for emergency services are now eligible under Phase 1B of California’s statewide roll-out plan. PG&E understands “emergency services” to mean any coworker who works outside their home, whether at a job site in the field, or currently reporting to a PG&E facility. Eligibility applies in every county that is vaccinating emergency service workers.

Coworkers working remotely/at home are not considered “emergency services” workers. We know many of you working from home are eager to receive the vaccine; however, if you do not work outside your home, please do not use that classification to sign up for the vaccine. Of course, if you are eligible to receive the vaccine for other reasons, we encourage you to make an appointment and get vaccinated.

How To Make An Appointment

There are multiple ways to find a location in your area and make a vaccine appointment:

  • Through your county health services website. Find yours here.
  • At myturn.ca.gov.
  • Via our Health Account Plan providers, Kaiser Permanente or Anthem.

When determining eligibility or registering for an appointment, make sure to indicate “Emergency Services” as your industry if you fit the description above, not “Energy.” You may also be asked to provide the name of your employer and your role, which confirms you are an emergency services worker.

Again, if you do not work outside your home, please do not sign up for a vaccine appointment using the emergency services worker classification. Let’s allow those who work outside the home—and face greater potential exposure because of it—to have priority access, which is the State’s intent. More vaccine is coming, and restrictions on who can get vaccinated will soon be lifted.

PG&E will continue to require COVID-19 protective procedures including face coverings, physical distancing and daily wellness checks to provide a safe working environment for everyone, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.

Information about scheduling the vaccine continues to change quickly, so we encourage you to stay informed by registering at myturn.ca.gov, and visiting the COVID-19 web sites of the CDC, the CDPH, as well as our own COVID-19 coworker website.

As always, thank you for all the work you are doing to support our customers and communities.

Stay safe,

Mary