COVID-19: These companies volunteer to bear vaccination cost of employees and their dependents

Similarly, Flipkart announced that it would either reimburse employees for the cost of the vaccination or provide the vaccines free at a partner hospital.  A letter from Krishna Raghavan, Chief People Officer at Flipkart Group read, "Currently, the vaccine is one of the most effective tools that we have, to arrest the pandemic and its adverse consequences. However, opting for the vaccine is left completely to your discretion and we urge you to consider the benefits, read up about its effectiveness and make the right decision for yourself and your family."

With this, the two companies join giants such as Reliance Industries, TVS Motor Company, Infosys, Accenture etc, which have committed to cover employee cost of vaccination.

The government launched the second phase of the vaccination drive in India on March 1. In this phase, senior citizens above 60 yers of age and those with co-morbidities between 45 and 59 years are being administered the vaccine.

The first phase of the vaccination drive in the country began on January 16 and was focused on frontline and healthcare workers.