Serum Institute to provide complimentary Covishield doses in CII vaccination drive

The CII-SII agreement will help accelerate the vaccination drive in partnership with industry. [Representative image]

Serum Institute of India (SII) said on August 10 that it would contribute complimentary doses as part of its CSR Initiative to the Pan India vaccination programme. In July, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the vaccine maker agreed to work together to expand vaccination across the country.

"SII has agreed on providing additional complimentary vaccines based on the following: upon predetermined Minimum number of doses (under CSR project) as may be demanded by a corporate," CII said in a statement.

Serum’s contribution will be 1,200 doses free contribution upon order of a minimum of 24,000 doses (as per private market applicable price) for supply in one lot, 9600 doses free contribution upon order of a minimum 96,000 doses and 28,800 doses free contribution upon order of a minimum of 1,92,000 doses.

This special initiative will be valid for the period of August.

The CII-SII agreement will help accelerate the vaccination drive in partnership with industry, including healthcare providers. The vaccine drive will target communities in India’s small towns and rural areas to ensure wide coverage.

To further scale up the efforts of the ongoing vaccination drive, CII is now mapping the vaccination need requirement state-wise and setting up vaccination camps along with its members focusing on reaching Tier 2/3 cities and rural areas.

The vaccination program is accompanied by an intensive communication campaign. The initial communication campaign on the importance of masking with the tagline “aap insaan hai, bhagwan nahi” ran successfully on several television channels and media. CII is now launching another campaign on vaccine hesitancy to be widely disseminated to target communities.