Nov 26, 2009 11:40 pm US/Eastern
Turkey Day Workers Lead Fight Against H1N1
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
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Justin Sullivan /Getty Images
At one Philadelphia workplace this Thanksgiving, the talk is all pig, no turkey.
Few people know, but the front line in the fight against the Swine Flu pandemic is inside a plain looking warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia.
Home to MedImmune, a division of Astra Zeneca, workers there produce every single dose of swine flu mist vaccine administered across the country.
"To date, this site is producing, per day, seven times as much as they have ever done before," said Ben Machielse, executive vice president of MedImmune.
"It's a lot of pressure on the people here, and I think they've done remarkably well."
Each day, workers mix, fill and package 400,000 H1N1 vaccine doses.
That's about 277 every minute.
By February, workers could produce 50 million doses.
All the demand means work goes on around the clock, even on Thanksgiving.
But most of these workers have a reason to be thankful this year.
"I'm on 12 hour shifts right now, five plus days a week," said John Toro.
He has the pandemic to thank for his job.
Toro is a seasonal employee brought on by MedImmune to help manufacture the vaccine.
Typically about 70 employees work out of the Northeast Philadelphia location.
Right now, there are nearly 400 – good paying jobs in a difficult recession.
"I feel very blessed to be here, it's an honor," Toro said.
"It just kind of happened, there was a need and people rose to the occasion."
"We found very high caliber people who were willing to really do the extra work," said Machielse, the vice president.
"It's Thanksgiving today and everybody's here."
Most employees are working 12-hour shifts, some as many as seven days a week.
"It's just that we have an opportunity to save lives across the country," said employee Ato Entsuah.
"We know we're here to help other people, which is a very good thing."
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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