CII to work with Serum Institute to expand Covid vaccination to small towns, rural areas

Industry chamber CII on Friday said it has entered into an agreement with Serum Institute of India (SII) to accelerate Covid vaccination in small towns and rural areas.

The chamber said the partnership with Serum Institute will help catalyse industry participation to reach out to communities at large.

"Overall, industry has been playing a responsible part in ensuring vaccination of workers and their families, but clearly, given the scale and urgency of the vaccination programme, we can complement and supplement the efforts of the government in this pivotal mission for the nation," CII President T V Narendran said in a statement.

On the development, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said it is essential that all stakeholders work together towards carrying out the inoculations.

"Our partnership with CII will be a good way to close the gaps, as there is plenty of supply of Covishield available for distribution," Poonawalla said.

As part of the pan-India vaccine demand aggregation exercise, CII undertook a survey with response from over 3,000 companies in 196 cities.

"This identified a requirement of over 7 million single dose vaccines. As of July 23, 2021, a total of 34,75,301 (3.4 million) single doses have been administered through 430 camps held across the country by the CII and the CII Foundation," it added.

To further scale up the efforts, CII said it is now mapping the vaccination need requirement state-wise and setting up vaccination camps along with its members focusing on reaching Tier 2/3 cities and rural areas.