Producers Guild of India to organize mass vaccination camp for its members

The Hindi film industry has suffered a major blow during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic as shooting has been limited or stopped altogether. At the same time, getting a slot for vaccination has become an issue for many because of the limited availability of the vaccines. 

Amid this crisis, the Producers Guild of India (PGI), the association of Indian film, television and digital content producers, on Monday announced a vaccination drive for its members and associated production crews beginning from 1 June.

Taking to Twitter, the PGI announced that the vaccination drive would be launched from 1 June, at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai.

Their media release read: “The Producers Guild of India (PGI), the premier association of the leading Indian film, television and digital content producers, will launch tomorrow a vaccination drive for its members and associated production crews. Through these camps, thousands of production house personnel and crews will be vaccinated over the multi-day drive being held at Mehboob Studios, starting June 1, 2021."

PGI president Siddharth Roy Kapur said in a statement, “An activity of such importance and magnitude cannot be carried out singlehandedly and we are extremely grateful for the support we have received to make this possible. In particular, from our members Excel Entertainment who played a pivotal role in securing the vaccines and Mehboob Productions who very generously offered complimentary use of the spacious Mehboob Studios. We are happy that we are able to provide this facility to our members, their employees, and the cast and crew of their productions as we work to get the industry back on its feet again in the weeks ahead."

Some members of the Cinestaan Film Company (CFC), our sister organization, will also be vaccinated at the camp.

Earlier this month, Yash Raj Films wrote to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to allow it to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for 30,000 members of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE).

Currently, Maharashtra has 2,71,801 active cases of COVID-19.