LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — While the vaccine rollout continues and expands, another group of Arkansans are fighting to be moved up in line.
With the recent loosening of restrictions and directives turned into guidelines, many in the restaurant industry believe their protection is gone.
Owners like Mark Abernathy said with the daily risks and so many things that are out of their control, it just makes sense they get vaccinated immediately.
"Other than healthcare, we're one of the most dangerous industries out there because we're forced, in order to stay open, to interact with hundreds of people on a regular basis," he said.
Abernathy said from the get-go it's been a balancing act between public health and making money.
"This is tough, complicated stuff because in 50 years I've never seen this much devastation in the restaurant industry," he said.
That devastation not only coming in economic losses, but now in protection losses.
Days ago, the governor gave restaurants the green light to open at 100% capacity and announced that the mask mandate is set to expire at the end of the month, but Abernathy said there's still no sign of restaurant workers becoming a priority for the shot.
"By doing this, you're increasing the risk to our employees, you're increasing the risk to our customers," he said.
Even though Abernathy's restaurants, Loca Luna and Red Door, aren't changing their capacity any time soon, Greg Henderson with Rock City Eats said that's not the case everywhere and there's only so much they can manage.
"Restaurant owners are going to do everything they can do to protect their people inside the restaurant, but they can't control the people walking in from the outside and what they're bringing into that restaurant," he said.
According to Henderson, some workers are now having to decide between their health and a paycheck.
"I've had restaurant workers reach out to me and say hey, if I quit today, because I'm really concerned about this, what are my protections and the answer is none," he said.
With more vaccines coming while restrictions begin loosening, these workers won't stop fighting until they're next in line.
"Really it should've happened yesterday, really it should've happened a month ago, but I think at the very least, here we are, March 2, it needs to at least happen soon," Henderson said.
Gov. Hutchinson addressed the issue in Tuesday's press conference. He said they hope to get to restaurant workers soon, but for now, they are staying in group 1-C.