An initiative has been put forward by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) to designate truck drivers as essential workers, thus giving them prioritized access to the national vaccine distribution program that is currently being laid out by the officials.

As reported on the ATA’s website, the letter calling for policymakers to include truckers in the plan has been sent to several top-ranking addresses, including the White House, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, President-elect Biden and the National Governors Association.

“Our workforce represents a central and critical link in the nation’s supply chain and will play an essential role in the imminent COVID-19 vaccine distribution process. As the trucking industry is called upon to deliver vaccines across the country, it is imperative that truck drivers have prioritized access to the vaccine to minimize the potential for supply chain delays and disruptions”, the ATA’s executive vice president for advocacy Bill Sullivan wrote in a public statement published by the association.

Sullivan stressed out that given the magnitude of the vaccine distribution, which will probably be the biggest such endeavor in history, it is crucial to keep the trucking industry going without any setbacks that the pandemics could cause in the supply chain if the truckers are not protected.

More than 80 percent of Americans depend exclusively on trucks to deliver their goods.