COVID-19: ‘Would like to give booster doses to all employees’, says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Founder and executive chairperson of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, has said that as an employer she would want to deliver booster doses to all Biocon employees due to the surge in coronavirus cases. The Bengaluru-based business mogul further explained that if many people tested positive in a division in her company, it is also bound to impact operations.
 
“Since we do not have a situation of vaccine inadequacy any more, I think we have adequate vaccines with which we can actually deliver booster doses to all. As an employer, we know the kind of work disruption we are seeing with over 300 people testing positive in a company such as ours, which you know is a manufacturing and R&D-driven company,” she said in an exclusive interview to India Today TV.
 
Shaw explained further, “We must have people coming to work. When you have this kind of an issue, it disrupts your manufacturing, R&D and many other enabling functions. I, for one, would like to give booster doses to all my employees so that we actually prevent such surges that we see presently.”
 
She added that administering booster doses should be opened to private sector as there’s a lot of anxiety among people. “I am not asking the government to deliver booster doses to everyone, but I do believe it should be opened to the private sector and the private market to allow people who want to be boosted. There’s a lot of anxiety among people,” Shaw underscored.
 
The Biocon chief said that our economy has already taken several hits due to COVID-19 pandemic and the safest way to get back to pre-COVID levels is to administer booster doses to all. She also said that when you combine Covishield with Covovax, your immunity will go up as opposed to three doses of Covishield. The Biocon boss added that there’s merit in utilising Covovax and Corbevax as booster doses or precautionary doses.
 
This, however, is not the first time that Shaw has advocated booster doses for all. “With surging positive cases I think all companies must be permitted to provide booster doses to its employees. There [are] massive work disruptions because of folk testing positive. Keeping industry moving is an essential need for the economy,” she said in a previous tweet.

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