Online food delivery platform Swiggy began vaccinating its delivery fleet and frontline staff in Bengaluru on Thursday. Apart from delivery executives, this includes staff from grocery delivery service Instamart and those who work in the company’s cloud kitchens. This is in accordance with the vaccination guidelines of the government, Swiggy said.
Swiggy said that it will provide quick access to vaccines for its delivery executives and cover loss of pay for the period the delivery partner spends in getting both the doses. If the delivery partners and frontline staff choose to get vaccinated at a government facility, Swiggy said will continue to cover the loss of pay for that period. Swiggy added it will be notifying users of the delivery partners’ vaccination status on the app.
The company said that a few thousand delivery partners have already received the first dose of the vaccine, and drives are planned in all major states. It said that subject to availability, it aims to vaccinate all delivery partners and frontline staff with the first dose in the next few weeks.
In a statement, Swiggy said that delivery partners and families have access to doctors via telemedicine for doubts and queries pertaining to vaccines, safety measures and early assessment.
Swiggy COO Vivek Sunder said that the company has been advocating for the need to get delivery partners and frontline staff priority access to vaccination.
"Our delivery partners and frontline staff continue to assist consumers, especially through the recent movement restrictions. Swiggy has been advocating the need for them to get priority access to the vaccination. The vaccination drive is a proactive step in ensuring their safety and also that of our consumers. Thousands of partners have already received their first dose and we are confident that a large portion of our fleet will participate and get themselves vaccinated in the coming weeks," he said.
In March, Swiggy had announced that it will be covering delivery costs for the vaccination of its delivery executives, and at the time, said it has a fleet of over 2 lakh delivery executives.