Grofers to cover Covid-19 vaccination cost for employees, contractual staff

Online grocery platform Grofers on Tuesday said it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for its employees, their family members as well as the company's contractual staff.

The company aims to cover vaccination cost for 25,000 people across 38 cities, it added.

Grofers will cover the vaccination cost for its employees, their family members (including, parents, spouse, and two children) and the company's contractual workforce, a statement said.

Also, the company will reimburse the vaccination cost for those who will administer the vaccine through their personal arrangements.

With the government recently appealing to people above 45 years to take the vaccine, the company will begin covering costs for its employees and their family members of this age group.

Post the government guidelines allowing the vaccination for remaining age groups, Grofers will ensure coverage of costs for the remaining workforce and their family members, the statement said.

Extra sick leave will also be granted towards the vaccine drive for employees to manage any post-vaccination symptoms.

"Our team has been there with us through these challenging times and by ensuring their vaccination cost, we want to ensure their safety and health, along with the well-being of their loved ones and dependents... Serving our customers and community at large has been the core of our business, and during the pandemic, it became even more critical as we are an essential service provider," Ankush Arora, HR Head at Grofers, said.

ADP India has also announced that it will sponsor the COVID-19 vaccines for all its employees.

As a part of this initiative, ADP will cover the cost of the total vaccine for over 50,000 beneficiaries in India spread across Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai along with over 10,000 beneficiaries in the Philippines.

Under this 'COVID Vaccine Special Benefit', ADP associates and their immediate dependents will be reimbursed the cost of both doses of the COVID-19 vaccinations. Associates and dependents who are already vaccinated can also avail this benefit.

"In the 21 years of our presence in India and our journey from 102 to 10,000-plus employees, this initiative will be the biggest commitment towards our people that we will fulfill," Vipul Singh, Divisional Vice President and Head HR at ADP India, said.

Several companies, including Flipkart, Infosys, Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Mobile Premier League, Reliance Industries, TVS Motor Company, ReNew Power, Mindtree and Sify Technologies, have committed to covering vaccine costs for their employees and their family members.

People above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with co-morbidities are being immunised in the second phase of the nationwide vaccination that started on March 1.

Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield are the two vaccines that are being administered in the country. Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

A total of 6,11,13,354 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered till Tuesday 10 am. As many as 81,74,916 healthcare workers got the first dose of vaccine and 51,88,747 the second dose. As many as 89,44,742 frontline workers got the first dose and 37,11,221 the second dose.

From April 1, people above the age of 45 years would be eligible for vaccination.