As part of its efforts to instil confidence among customers and those part of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s fold, the company has in the past few months ensured 100% vaccination against the COVID-19 virus.
“We have conducted 180 camps to cover 13,073 retail outlet attendants, 8,733 LPG delivery boys, 4,355 staff and 2,030 contract workers at bottling plants and terminals across 23 operating locations. Apart from these 28191, over 850 employees of IOC too have been provided both doses,” said a company source.
An LPG distributor said that vaccination was very important for the boys since they should not be carriers and pass it on to the customers. “These men carry cylinders inside the homes of senior citizens too,” he said.
Initially when vaccine administration had just begun many pump attendants and delivery boys had hesitated. "The boys refused saying they would fall sick and would miss out on work. They were afraid. But the company gave them counselling and explained to them about the need for the vaccine," explained another official.
Official sources in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation said they had covered over 70% of attendants and delivery boys.
“The coverage in urban areas is higher than rural areas where there is still some hesitancy for the vaccine. Similarly, these boys keep quitting or shifting jobs so their coverage percentage keeps fluctuating,” explained an industry source.
