Aditya Chopra starts vaccination drive for film industry members

Filmmaker and Yash Raj Films (YRF) head honcho Aditya Chopra has started a COVID-19 vaccination drive for members of the film industry at Yash Raj Studios through the Yash Chopra Foundation’s Saathi initiative. 

YRF said in a statement, “Aditya Chopra has opened the doors to his sprawling YRF Studios for this vaccination drive that will look to inoculate at least 4,000 workers in its first phase. YRF has pledged that it will do its best to vaccinate 30,000 registered members of the FWICE [Federation of Western India Cine Employees, apex association of film industry workers]. The company has already vaccinated its employees in an earlier drive that happened within the YRF Studios in Mumbai.” 

Akshaye Widhani, senior vice-president at YRF, said, “After inoculating all the employees at YRF, we started vaccinating the crew members of our films and we are now delighted to start a vaccination drive for the Hindi film industry. This will enable the daily wage-earners of our industry to return to work and provide financial stability for themselves and their families.”

Explaining the process, Widhani said, “The drive will take place in phases, given the huge number of vaccines that are required to cover the industry. In the first phase, which starts today, we will be able to inoculate at least 3,500–4,000 people. YRF is committed to provide a helping hand in restarting the industry that has been hit hard by the pandemic.”

Through the Saathi initiative, Chopra provided financial aid to thousands of daily-wage workers from the film industry last month.