Dhaka, Jan. 14 -- Unilever is strongly encouraging employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as possible and floated the idea that it could buy shots to share with people in poorer countries.

"There are one or two countries in the developing world, where the public purse is not so strong and they have approached us on a "buy two, keep one" basis," Unilever Chief Executive Alan Jope told Reuters on Wednesday in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

He said, "So imagine in a country where we purchase 200,000 vaccine doses, we donate 100,000 to public efforts and we use the rest for our employees and their families," reports Reuters.

He did not give further details. Emerging markets contribute about 60 per cent of...