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

ICICI Bank and Flipkart have now joined the likes of Reliance Industries, Infosys, Capgemini, TVS Motor Company and ReNew Power to bear the full cost of COVID-19 vaccination for employees and their dependents.

Even as the COVID-19 vaccination drive is gaining momentum in the country, several organisations have volunteered to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination of employees and their families.

The latest to join the list is private sector lender ICICI Bank, which said on March 10 that it would reimburse the vaccination cost to employees and their dependent family members.

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.