The Producers Guild of India has launched a wide-scale vaccination drive for its members and associated production crews.
The multi-day program, which began yesterday, will be held at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai, Deadline reports.
The aim is to vaccinate thousands of production house personnel and crew. Organisers said that mass vaccination was the only effective weapon in the ongoing battle against coronavirus and that they hoped the camp would provide a boost to the country’s mission of attaining universal vaccination, as well as facilitating safer shooting once production returns.
India’s latest wave of coronavirus infections has been devastating for the country, reaching a peak of close to 400,000 confirmed cases per day earlier in May. Hospitals have been overwhelmed and life-saving resources have been scarce. However, cases have been falling gradually in the past fortnight and are now below 200,000 per day. There are hopes that an expedited vaccination program will see infections continue to drop but the state still remains precarious.
Currently, the film and TV industry in Mumbai has no fixed date as to when it can resume production, but there is optimism that July could see some shoots start again.
“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,” commented Siddharth Roy Kapur, president of the Producers Guild of India.
“In particular from our members Excel Entertainment who played a pivotal role in securing the vaccine and Mehboob Production 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.”
