HDFC Bank to bear Covid vaccine cost for staff, immediate family

HDFC Bank has announced that it will bear the cost of vaccination of over 1 lakh employees and their immediate family members against coronavirus. HDFC Bank, which is India's largest private bank in terms of m-cap, said it will reimburse vaccination cost for the two mandated doses.

Vinay Razdan, Group Head - HR, said HDFC Bank employees have shown exemplary perseverance, professionalism and dedication to serve millions of customers amid Covid-times. "Covering the cost of vaccination for our employees and their dependent family members is a small gesture from the organisation to express our gratitude," he said.

HDFC Bank group head Ashima Bhat said bank employees are like front-line workers, who ensured an essential service like banking was available for customers even during the lockdown. "For their health and safety, we are ensuring that our employees and their dependent family members are inoculated and protected from Covid-19."

Also read: Infosys to cover COVID-19 vaccination cost for employees, immediate family members

Many private companies in India have come forward to vaccinate their employees and their family members. Like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank has also decided to bear the cost of vaccination of its staff and their dependent family members. India's biggest business house Reliance Industries has said it'll also bear the coronavirus vaccine cost of its employees. Reliance employees along with their spouses, parents and children who are eligible to receive the vaccine will be covered.

Global IT giant Accenture and IT major Infosys said that they would cover the coronavirus vaccine cost for all its employees and immediate family members enrolled in the medical benefits programme.

Also read: Flipkart to cover COVID-19 vaccination cost of all its employees

Flipkart also announced on Wednesday that it'll pay the COVID-19 vaccination cost of all its employees, including Myntra staff. The e-commerce major said that its employees can either choose to reimburse for the costs of the vaccinations or get free of charge at a partner hospital. Several other companies, including Capgemini, TVS Motor Company, and ReNew Power have committed to covering vaccine costs for employees and family members.

In phase one, which started on March 16, the Centre targeted vaccination of 3 crore frontline and healthcare workers. Round two of the vaccination drive started on March 1. In this phase, people above the age of 60 and between 45-60 with co-morbidities will be vaccinated. The Centre aims to vaccinate 27 crore people in this phase. While government hospitals offer the Covid-19 jabs for free, private hospitals charge Rs 150 per dose plus Rs 100 administration fee.

Also read: Reliance to bear COVID-19 vaccine cost of employees; urges staff to get vaccinated