Zomato begins vaccination drive for 150,000 frontline staff and employees

Initiative will start in Mumbai and Bengaluru, and then be taken other cities next week

Food delivery giant Zomato had started vaccinating its delivery partners in the National Capital Region (NCR) last week. In one of the largest efforts of its kind, Zomato is facilitating a free and safe vaccination drive for more than 150,000 of its frontline staff and employees.

“Thousands of our delivery partners are already vaccinated,” Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato said in a tweet on Friday.

The vaccination drive would start in Mumbai and Bengaluru on Saturday and then be taken to many other cities next week. “The safety of our customers is the number one priority for us and our delivery partners who have selflessly and safely delivered hundreds of millions of orders during the pandemic,” said Goyal.

While Gurugram-based Zomato sets up camps in various other cities over the next few days, it is also encouraging the delivery partners to get vaccinated on their own. “We are more than covering for the cost – we are ‘incentivising’ our delivery partners to find a slot in their vicinity asap (as soon as possible),” said Goyal.

Zomato continues to educate its delivery partners on the importance of getting vaccinated. The vaccination status of the delivery partners will soon also be visible on the Zomato app.

As part of its commitment to cover vaccination for its entire delivery fleet, food delivery firm Swiggy has also begun the Covid-19 vaccination drive in Bengaluru. The drive is for its delivery partners and frontline staff from its grocery delivery service Instamart and its brand kitchens in accordance with the vaccination guidelines of the government. Present in around 500 cities, Swiggy has the country’s largest active delivery fleet with over 200,000 partners.