We devoted more than $810 million on protective equipment, new technology in our plants, and team member benefits to manage the virus and keep our team members better protected.
At Tyson Foods, we believe vaccines are the single, most effective way to protect our team members. We made that our policy because it is the right thing to do for our workforce and communities. We held more than 200 onsite vaccination events at our plants and provided information to team members about vaccine benefits. Also, we offered a variety of resources in many languages with support from outside medical experts.
We paid bonuses to frontline team members to acknowledge their hard work through the pandemic. We also offered additional vaccination incentives at our plants, including $6.3 million in giveaways.
Our team members received paid time off to get vaccinated. Fully vaccinated frontline team members received a $200 thank you payment. We provided paid leave for up to two weeks for team members who were fully vaccinated and tested positive for COVID-19 until March 2022.
In 2020, we hired 200 extra nurses and appointed our first Chief Medical Officer. She worked to expand our long-term culture of health, safety and wellness across Tyson Foods.
We used infrared temperature scanners at our locations and provided masks and face shields for our team members. We also employed more than 500 social distance monitors at our plants and facilities.
We used a comprehensive data-led testing strategy to help keep cases low and our facilities safer.
Our vaccination policy gained support from the United Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) and the affiliated Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).