Several companies are making plans to buy Covid-19 vaccines for their employees just days after India started its Phase 1 drive, one of the largest in the world. While most global corporations have been quiet about whether they would seek early supplies of the vaccine for employees, Indian companies have started reaching out to vaccine manufacturers for bulk supply of doses after the completion of Phase 1 vaccinations in July of this year. The government has not yet indicated whether it will make the vaccine available commercially, still some companies have started identifying some of their workers to become “vaccinators.” They are reaching out to the Health Ministry to check if their vaccinators can be trained by the government Phase 1 vaccinating staff.
HRPI View: Corporations would do well to identify voluntary vaccinators who can be trained if the government does decide to train corporate staff. We still have a few months before that happens, so we feel that HR can identify people for vaccine delivery to key staff should the vaccine become commercially available.