Country director of American India Foundation (AIF), Mathew Joseph, launched the Mission Corona Vijay or The First Million in Mon district of Nagaland bordering Myanmar on Monday, an official statement said on Tuesday.  

Mon in Nagaland is the first district in entire Northeast India which has been selected for the campaign. 

The campaign was launched at the conference hall of Mon deputy commissioner’s office in the presence of Director (Programme), Public Health-American Indian Foundation, Dr Mahesh Srinivas, Deputy Commissioner Thavaseelan K, representatives of civil society organizations and other officials. 

Mission Corona Vijay or The First Million is a campaign of the AIF to ensure vaccination for a million most vulnerable and marginalised sections of the society by reaching out to them. 

Persons with disability, migrant labourers, street vendors, tribal population and women working in the unorganised sector are identified as the vulnerable groups. The campaign is implemented in collaboration with the district administration with local support from the civil society organisations, NGOs working in related fields. 

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For Mon district, the campaign will be implemented in collaboration with the district administration and Prodigals Home, Dimapur, an NGO. 

Addressing the programme, Joseph said the campaign was initiated realising the importance of maximum vaccination coverage to contain the spread of Covid-19 and to address the issue of loss of daily income of marginalised sections of the society due to the time spent on getting Covid-19 vaccination. 

The Mon DC conveyed gratitude and appreciation to American India Foundation for their kind gesture and requested for their continued support beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Bhadra Gogoi is Northeast Now Correspondent in Nagaland. He can be reached at: [email protected]