Airlines start giving the jab to employees

Airasia, Goair, Indigo, and Vistara have rolled out their respective vaccination drives for their staff.

Air India announced plans on Tuesday to vaccinate all employees by May-end, Indigo has commenced vaccination at 39 stations. All its employees in Pune and Chandigarh have received the first jab, Indigo said. Goair aims to vaccinate most of its employees by May-end too. Airasia India said it has carried out drives in Gurugram, Bengaluru and Delhi.

The government opened vaccination for adults from May 1. T K Pandey, Civil aviation secretary, wrote to states last week to accord priority status to vaccination. While states are yet to act, airlines have chalked out their plans and tied up with hospitals.

“We are tying up with hospitals and government agencies across our network and our frontline staff is getting vaccinated progressively,” said a Vistara spokesperson.

“Vaccination drives have already commenced aggressively across 39 stations and we are in the process of including more stations. Our staff can access vaccines at government or private hospitals through our corporate tie up programme. We are also providing time off to our crew upon vaccination as per DGCA guidelines,” Indigo said.

Airports Authority of India is also organising vaccination camps at airports. Over 2,000 employees and their family members received doses at a camp in Guwahati airport on Monday.