India aims to vaccinate 30 crore people by July.
Reliance Industries Limited will launch an inoculation drive for all its employees and their family members from May 1 as India widens vaccine coverage to all those who aged 18 and above.
In a statement, the RIL said it will roll out the vaccination drive – “R-Surakshaa” – as it urged its employees to get their Covid shot safely without delay and encourage their family members also to do the same.
In the letter, Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, and Nita Ambani, Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, said that vaccination was “a key weapon in the fight” against the novel coronavirus.
Many employees and their family members have already been vaccinated, they said, adding the company had paid for it.
The letter further said that Reliance Foundation continues to be on the ground addressing the humanitarian challenges, distributing more than 5.5 crore meals and 67 lakhs masks among those in need.
“Over the next three months, I urge all of you to provide all the support you can to peers, colleagues and teams,” the letter read.
“Our priority remains the safety and health of our people. Ensure that you are cascading all the health and safety information to your team. Refer to the R-World portal for all important and updated resources,” it said.
Reliance will roll out our own vaccination programme, R-Surakshaa, across locations for all our employees and eligible family members above the age of 18 years, effective May 1: Reliance Industries Limited pic.twitter.com/bh2U9Atb5R
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2021
The announcement comes days after the government said that all those who are 18 and above can get vaccinated from May1 in a “liberalised and accelerated” Phase 3 of vaccination. India began the world’s largest vaccination programme on January 16.
Vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory-released doses to the central government and would be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and in the open market.
The new phase of vaccination comes as India sees an unprecedented surge in new COVID-19 cases.
The country logged over 3.32 lakh new infections, its highest single-day rise, the government data this morning showed. This was the second straight day that the country registered over 3 lakh cases. 2,273 Covid patients died in the last 24 hours, according to the data released by the Health Ministry.
The unprecedented surge in cases has put a tremendous pressure on the health infrastructure.