Vaccines may become your carnet to the job soon

Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore

@Shahkhevna1, @Infodeaofficial

After the deadly pandemic, the announcement of vaccines was a sense of relief for the decreasing Indian economy. It provides a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and forebodes well for the recovery of the Indian economy. Consequently, talks of offices getting to open their doors again and shift remote employees back to the workplace have begun to gain momentum.

As the Indian government advances its COVID-19 vaccination program, some companies are making plans to vaccinate their employees as soon as possible and also provide them with various incentives.

Your COVID-19 Vaccination | CDC

The Indian government has approved two vaccines for emergency use and has started vaccinating its population in mid-January. So far, approximately 9 million doses are administered in India, mainly to health care and front-line workers. To complement the government’s efforts, industry groups have requested that non-public companies be allowed to vaccinate their workforce.

India has a plus over other countries because it is that the largest producer of vaccines within the world. The Serum Institute of India, a drug manufacturer in Pune, has already made 100 million doses of Covishield, AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine. Covaxin, a vaccine that is government-approved, is also being manufactured at a rapid pace.

A significant percentage of companies in India are planning to provide vaccines for their employees, and also plan to cover or subsidize the vaccination cost for their staff, says a survey. According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Trends India Survey by Willis Towers Watson, over 50 percent of companies in India are planning to facilitate vaccination for their employees and dependents.

The survey shows that more than 150 employers in India were vaccinated. Further, 80 percent of companies are considering having the vaccination administered at third-party clinics or hospitals, 21 percent at their offices, and 10 percent at the residence of their employees.

It is mandatory for employers to support COVID-19-vaccine adoption by making vaccination as accessible and affordable to employees as possible. They should work towards encouraging COVID-19-vaccine adoption among employees and provide all the support that they might need in this process.

Over time, companies may also want to integrate vaccination planning and action with broader efforts to protect the employees and return to work safely. In this way, employers would need to develop a plan to operationally manage variability in vaccination status across the workforce. In addition, they ought to contemplate and found out how to support continued vaccination, as relevant—for example, booster shots for brand spanking new variants. Beyond supporting vaccination adoption, employers should also consider evaluating in-person health protocols, meeting and collaboration norms, changes to work-from-home setup and protocols, and travel policies.

Companies have put in place the policy framework that works as the guiding force and brings seamlessness in decision-making thereby ensuring business continuity in pandemic times. Companies have invested in requisite technology and tools to facilitate work from home even for business-critical functions. According to Gartner, Information Technology (IT) spending in India is probably going to touch $93 billion in 2021 — a rise of seven .3% from 2020 thanks to the pandemic accelerating digitization and knowledge Technology (IT) spending within the country.

Vaccine drive is another initiative undertaken by many companies. “We have decided to hide the vaccination cost for our entire team if they prefer to get vaccinated. We have been on the frontlines with our Covid-19 Risk Management solution. We thank our employees for being patient and resilient as we work together to tug through these extraordinary times,” said Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, founder of HealthCube.

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