The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected the economy, which was showing signs of recovery before the devastating second wave of the novel coronavirus. One of the industries among many to face the brunt of this pandemic is the entertainment industry, especially event management companies. Given the near-complete shutdown of the cinema halls, social gatherings, events, private functions etc… for months together, event management companies have suffered enormous losses because of which many are contemplating closing down their businesses and the rest of them have been braving the situation, holding on to it waiting for the tough times to pass off.
With the covid situation grim and 90% of the events on hold due to the uncertainty of the coming days, the event management industries have been going through a rough phase to sustain and survive. Nevertheless, they are fighting the situations and gearing up themselves and keeping their hopes alive by preparing for the good old days to be back.
One such preparation was the Vaccination Drive. KEMA - KARNATAKA EVENT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION recently organized a Vaccination Drive under the aegis of KEMACares initiative.
The Event Management companies don’t just consist of people who manage events but, has a whole lot of working-class people attached to it, be it fabricators, printers, carpenters, event equipment suppliers, and the whole lot who belong to the Events community and associated with managing events all put together. The two-day drive was organized especially for the Event Fraternity members and their Team, their family & their friends too.
For the first time ever, the Event Industry organized an Event wherein we were making the safety of our Fraternity a BIG PRIORITY. Let us accept the fact that for any type of event to be safely conducted in India, be it Social, Corporate or Political, it is but imperative that the event fraternity themselves need to be vaccinated first. We are after-all the ‘frontline workers’, especially where Events are concerned. So, this was the best possible way of preparedness we as Event Management Companies could think of, where we ourselves need to be safe and alive, to enable us to bring to life #SafeEvents. To safeguard the well-being of our employees from the Covid-19 Pandemic, we rolled out a vaccination drive for our employees, their family members.
The availability of Vaccine was brought to our notice on the 25th May 2021.
Though speed was the essence, we had many challenges on hand, like ensuring 100% confirmed availability, tying up with a reputed medical agency, identifying the right venue that could accommodate approx. 1000 people a day, with ample open space for parking, reaching out to the Fraternity members in such a short period of time and at the same time clearing their concerns and doubts about the COVID-19 vaccines, and last but not the least, it was our responsibility to ensure the vaccination drive went off seamlessly, with necessary instructions and protocol adhered to.
We are glad that our vaccination drive was a great success. We managed 1800 jabs with 20 volunteers at the venue and 10 vendor partners with the mission of vaccinating the Event Management fraternity. The VACCINATION EVENT was supported by Manipal Hospitals and 1800 fraternity members and their family and friends were vaccinated.
A 20-member volunteer team, led by the best event managers from the city, executed this project with just 6-days’ notice for planning & promotions and managed it professionally and the whole drive went flawless. Many from our Event industry sent their teams, vendors & families in large numbers for this drive. We have received a lot of appreciation for the arrangements made at the location. Special attention was given to social distancing protocols which were followed diligently, including venue management, all round cleanliness, crowd management, special treatment for mothers & old age parents, etc. Industry heads from across the country have lauded our efforts for being proactive in moving our industry towards #safeeventstosaveevents
This Vaccination drive was executed with support from many without whom it would have been mere impossible to handle it so effectively. We take this opportunity to thank our partners. We partnered with one of the best venues in Bangalore, Princess Shrine in Palace Grounds, which was the biggest advantage for us. We Thank BBMP, Bangalore Police, Dept of Public Relations & the Wodeyar family for supporting us.
Allowing employers to vaccinate employees was a key feature of the liberalised programme put in place from May.
The government allowed family members and dependents as defined by the employer – be covered under the programme at industrial and workplace Covid Vaccination Centres (CVC). This means that the employee, spouse, their children, parents, in laws and other dependents allowed by companies in their internal policies can be vaccinated at these centres.
Several companies, both in the public and private sector, had already lined up vaccination programme for their employees and their family members. We did our bit to ensure safety and health of our employees and workers who are the backbone of the Event Management Industry.