Amid shortage, India Inc wants vaccines and clarity from govt: Cos urge industry bodies to seek jabs

India Inc is pressing key industry bodies to make an urgent plea to state and central governments for more vaccines as its plans to inoculate employees are yet to take off because of a shortage. The inability to vaccinate employees and the lack of clarity around future supplies is seen as a business risk factor by several companies.

Many corporates anxious to inoculate workers in frontline roles, who typically tend to be below 45 years old, have paused plans until supply eases, top officials said.

Currently, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is aggregating data on vaccine requirements. It is estimated that large corporates and micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) may together require 10-12 million doses. Maharashtra alone will require about 3 million doses. CII has managed to map 185 cities, including tier II-III, to see where companies’ demand is coming from.


“There is clearly a downstream vaccine shortage, as no corporate can directly source vaccines from the manufacturers and directly administer it,” said the chief executive of a top corporate who is also on CII’s pandemic panel. “We have to tie up with state governments and healthcare providers.”

A Tata group official seeking anonymity, said, “We have been urging employees eligible for a second jab to follow it through. We are not able to source vaccines for now and will wait for supply to ease up.”

‘Looking Towards State Govts’
Arup Chauhan, managing director, Parle Products, said the pace of vaccination has taken a hit. “We need more streamlined supplies of vaccines to cover employees and safeguard their health,” he said.

Some top corporates have offered to fund vaccination programmes by leading private hospitals but been stumped by the shortage of jabs.

“Almost 100% of our associates over the age of 45 years have been vaccinated,” said Ruzbeh Irani, president, group HR and communication, Mahindra & Mahindra. “We will continue to bear the cost of vaccination and have tied up with leading hospital chains to facilitate all our associates above the age of 18 and their spouses.”

Several company chiefs told ET that they are hoping for better communication and clarity so they can plan their drives. “There are no second or third coordinates at the vaccine maker to have any discussions on availability. So, we are all looking at the state governments for help and (to) protect our employees and community. Right now, we are all sitting helpless,” said the chief executive of a leading IT firm.

CII for the Community
Meanwhile, CII has reached out to its members and is encouraging them to vaccinate not only their workforce with family, but also the community at large.

“We are working with CII and collecting the vaccine requirement,” said Naushad Forbes, co-chairman of Forbes Marshall and past CII president. “Companies are committing to doses required for their workforce, family and a sizeable number to vaccinate the community.” Forbes Marshall has given commitment on 3,500 vaccines for employees and another 3,500 for the community.

To be inclusive, CII is reaching out not only to large healthcare providers but even smaller hospitals and encouraging large corporate houses to set up vaccination centres on company premises.

Vaccination Slump
India’s daily vaccination has fallen by 38% since start of the drive in January, according to Bhramar Mukherjee, Chair of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan, who has been tracking India’s pandemic.

Vaccination numbers were 1.82 million on May 1 and 1.8 million on May 8. This is the lowest since mid-March, except for Sundays and holidays, and well below the peak of over 4 million jabs on some days in April. Some 108.6 million above the age of 45 have been vaccinated while 87.2 million people in this age group are due to get their second dose.

While there is no clarity when the shortage will ease, vaccine manufacturers are ramping up capacity. “There is huge demand; it’s just a matter of time before supply gets streamlined,” said the chief executive of a leading consumer company.

As of May 8, ministry of health data showed 11.9 million vaccine doses available in the country. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of doses at 1.2 million, followed by Gujarat at 1 million and Maharashtra at 800,000 doses.

Bharat Biotech has delivered 8.8 million doses of the 20 million ordered. Serum Institute of India has supplied 87 million doses against 100 million ordered. These orders were placed by the Government of India at the end of April.