Reliance rolls out mega COVID-19 vaccination drive; free jabs for employees, their kins

Supporting the government in its efforts to vaccinate the country against the dreaded COVID-19, Reliance launched an inoculation drive "R-Suraksha" from 1 May, and has till now already administered 3.30 lakh employees and family members with the first dose, and aims to administer the first dose to the remaining employees, associates, partners such as BP and Google and their family members in 880 cities across the country by 15 June. The vaccines to the employees and the family members are all being administered free of cost. 

In a statement released earlier, the company said, "The vaccination drive will substantially reduce the pressure on public health systems and help India counter the pandemic challenges more effectively.”

R-Suraksha: All you need to know

• All eligible employees and their family members are required to be registered on the Centre’s CoWIN platform.
• Once registered on CoWIN slots for vaccination can be booked at the nearest location on Jio Healthclub, RIL’s online healthcare platform.
• The program is being undertaken as part of the government’s workplace vaccination policy and will be delivered at RIL’s Occupational Health Centers (OHC), Reliance Hospitals, and partner hospitals (Max, Manipal, Apollo, etc.) in more than 800 cities.
• Besides free vaccination, employees and family members who have already gotten their jabs will be eligible for full reimbursement of vaccine expenses.
• RIL has purchased Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech) for its employees.
• Vaccination has already begun at Mumbai and its manufacturing locations and will start in the other major cities and state capitals by next week, followed by cities where RIL and partners' employees are based.

India's Vaccination Drive 

India kickstarted its COVID-19 vaccination drive with the first phase on 16 January, in which the healthcare and the frontline workers were administered vaccination. The second phase of vaccinations, which started on March 1, 2021, allowed for all Indians above the age of 60 and Indians between the age of 45 and 59 with comorbidities to be vaccinated. From April 1st, 2021, People above the age of 45 years were made eligible while from May 1, 2021, all above the age of 18 years were made eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Till May 26, India has nearly administered 20.25 crore of COVID-19 vaccine doses. As per data issued by the government, 20,25,29,884 vaccine doses had been administered in India. This includes 98,08,901 healthcare workers who have had their first dose and 67,37,679 who have got their second dose as well. As many as 1,52,42,964 frontline workers have had their first dose while 84,00,950 have got their second dose too.

In the 45-59-year age group, 56,26,09,143 people have got their first dose and another 1,01,11,128 have had their second dose as well. In the 60+ category, 5,73,45,128 people have been administered their first dose while 1,84,11,563 have had their second dose as well. In the newly added category of 18-44 year age group, 1,38,62,428 beneficiaries received their first dose of Covid vaccine across 32 states and Union Territories.

(Credit-PTI)