Software major Infosys has vaccinated more than 11,000 people, including employees and their families, against coronavirus and will need over 1.6 million vaccine doses to cover all of its staff and their dependents, the company's COO UB Pravin Rao told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.
11,000 people vaccinated
"We have set up vaccination centres in eight campuses. We have completed 11,000 vaccinations, which includes 3,000 for employees and 8,000 for dependents. We recently started covering those aged above 18. We have tied up with hospital chains and a commitment to procure 250,000 doses so far," Rao said.
The company had adopted a two-pronged approach to vaccination—through vaccination centres at its campuses as well as hospitals, where its employees and their kin get preferred slots. While it has been talking to manufacturers both in India and abroad, they are not inclined to supplying directly to companies for now.
Infy spoke to Pfizer, J&J
"We have spoken to Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech—they want to deal with the government for now. We also spoke to senior officials of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson—they want the government to sort out the indemnity clause," he said.
Infosys will need over 1.6 million doses
"We have over 2.43 lakh employees who will need two doses of vaccine, if you count two-three dependants per family and other staff, the total works out to over 1.6 million doses. Nasscom and CII are also in talks with the government to liberalise vaccine import and ease supply," he said.
Impact of the second wave
Talking about the impact of the coornavirus wave that has sent daily infections and deaths to record high, Rao said it had been “pretty stressful” compared to the first wave.
"The second wave has been pretty stressful. In the first wave, it was about getting people to work from home, this time has been different. Few employees have tested positive, majority of employees have friends or families who have been impacted. It has been tough but things are getting better now."
On May 19, Infosys' peer Wipro, too, said it would have access to one lakh doses of vaccine by June for the exclusive use of its employees and their families. Many companies have announced that they will cover the cost of vaccination for employees and their kin.
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