50 employees of Bharat Biotech test Covid-19 positive; Joint MD's tweet draws bouquets and brickbats

Bharat Biotech's Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella's tweet saying 50 of their employees tested positive for Covid-19 received bouquets and brickbats from netizens with some saying Covaxin was saving lives while a few questioned as to why the staff were not vaccinated.

Referring to comments by some political bosses over Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin supply issues, Ella on Wednesday tweeted "Quite disheartening to the teams to hear some states complaining about our intentions. 50 of our employees are off work due to Covid-19, yet we continue to work under pandemic lockdowns 24x7 for U."

Reacting to her tweet, one user wrote: "How come your 50 employees down with Covid-19? We're they not vaccinated? Also, why not hire more people on temporary basis?"

Ella's tweet got 9,373 likes and was retweeted by 2,564 people (at 10.30 AM on May 13).

"Hi just wanted to say Thank you. Both my grandparents are over 75 & took their first jab 5 weeks back, both tested Covid-19 positive 2 weeks back. Low fever were their only symptoms, tested negative today, on the road to recovery with no major issues," tweeted another netizen.

"Thank you Bharat Biotech for your hard work and commitment on delivering vaccines every corner of India," another Twitter user said.

Another user said, "If you say that your employees are sick of Covid-19, it speaks volumes about efficacy of your vaccine."

Ella said as many as 18 states received Covaxin though in smaller shipments.

The Hyderabad-based firm is supplying Covaxin to 18 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi.

The other states are Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal.