Vaccines in short supply but India Inc soldiers on | Economic Times

Leading companies are pushing ahead with plans to inoculate their workforce against Covid-19, acknowledging that vaccine availability and employee vulnerability will be the key factors in prioritising who gets jabbed.Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Vedanta, Flipkart and RPG Group are among the companies tying up with hospitals and government authorities for their inoculation drives or procuring vaccines directly from manufacturers.Many companies have already vaccinated most of their workforce in the 45+ age bracket, but the schedule for those in the 18-44 bracket will depend on vaccine availability. 82819664Certain employee groups are being given priority, depending on their work roles. The Flipkart Group has kicked off vaccination camps for frontline employees of the Flipkart and Myntra units in Bengaluru.TCS said it will prioritise jabs for employees based on comorbidities, while Panasonic wants to get its field force vaccinated first because they are at higher risk.Companies in talks with manufacturers to buy vaccines say it may take a couple of months to procure them. “We have been told by manufacturers they have to first supply to the states and only then can they meet the demand from private companies. Our sense is it might take at least the next couple of months,” said the HR head of a large manufacturing company.India opened up its Covid-19 vaccination drive to all adults from May 1 and decentralised vaccine procurement by allowing states and private entities to buy doses directly from manufacturers. Over 187 million vaccine doses have been administered since the vaccination drive started in mid-January.TCS started its office vaccination centres in select cities in early May and is scaling it up across all India locations to cover all associates and their families. It is tying up with hospitals and healthcare providers and procuring doses via suppliers.At Hindustan Unilever, over 8,400 employees – about 40% of the workforce – including blue-collar and white-collar employees, have been inoculated and the company is working on vaccinating the others in partnership with government health authorities and hospitals. “We are facilitating and will cover costs incurred in vaccinating our outer core of around 300,000, including people who work for our distributors, small suppliers, and micro entrepreneurs,” the company said.Vedanta is in talks with manufacturers to procure vaccines for employees and their families. The diversified miner will spend about Rs 12 crore to buy vaccines, deliveries of which will start later this month.Vaccination Drive Continues“Most of our business units have planned that each one of the targeted category (all of the eligible groups) will receive one dose of vaccine by June 30, 2021,” said group CHRO Madhu Srivastava. “We plan to vaccinate 1.11 lakh people, including 46,000 employees and families.” He said the vaccination drive will cover the company’s outsourced business partners and their families.Walmart Global Tech India is partnering with healthcare providers to roll out a vaccination drive at the end of May. “Our associates will have the option to join the vaccination drives at our office premises or leverage centres close to their locations. Our timelines are determined by the availability of vaccines with our healthcare providers,” said Sudeep Ralhan, VP-people.At IBM India, vaccination camps will be opened soon in all major cities, said Chaitanya Sreenivas, HR leader.Panasonic has already covered the 45+ base and is in talks with three hospitals across India to vaccinate employees and their families. “We are looking at a drive-in option too where possible,” said Adarsh Mishra, CHRO of Panasonic India.Dabur has tied up with local hospitals to vaccinate employees and family members, said ED-HR Biplab Baksi.At LafargeHolcim India and its operating companies Ambuja Cements and ACC, the drive is in progress. About 92% of employees above 45 years and 15% of those below 44 years have been covered, said Neeraj Akhoury, CEO India, LafargeHolcim. The Flipkart Group will conduct drives for the rest of its workforce in partnership with hospitals across its offices in Bengaluru, the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.Ceat has vaccinated almost all employees in its 45+ age group and has set up camps at its factories across the country to inoculate other employees, said Milind Apte, CHRO.