Master Divit (age: 2.5 years) received a shot of Hepatitis B vaccine, marking 20th thousand (20,000) dose. This completes our journey that we started 2 and half year back in the town of Narnaul, Haryana. Mission India Foundation had launched a vaccination drive in this area with an aim to create awareness about the vaccines and make them available to the children in the town and surrounding villages. The journey has been a blend of satisfaction, pleasant cooperation from all quarters and moreover overwhelming response from the community about the vaccines. During this period, children have received important vaccines like MMR, Hepatitis B and Typhoid.

India has a huge vaccine deficits. Its national average of fully immunized kids (against 6 vaccine preventable diseases) is around 45 %, a dismal performance indicator. And then inability to add newer vaccines to its immunization schedule is another missed opportunity. Thus, when we launched the vaccine drive in Narnaul in April 2010, our aim was 2-fold: 1. Focus on those vaccines that the Government has not included in its schedule, ie, what W.H.O. calls Newer and Underutilized Vaccines (NUVIs). 2. Create awareness about the importance of vaccines along with other issues involving health.

Mission India Foundation is thankful to all the help and cooperation it has received from patrons, volunteers, friends, and donors (individuals, private corporations and pharma companies). And needless to say, all the appreciation to its project team and Board of Directors who have served in the past and serving currently: this team work kept us going.

Even though, we have reached our mark of 20,000 vaccine doses, we are still providing inoculations to the kids who are due for in next several weeks.

MIF plans to launch its next program in January 2013 on civic engagement.

Note: I am personally involved with Mission India Foundation, hence a personal joy for me. Mission India Foundation is a registered charitable organization serving in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh loksabha constituency area in the field of rural healthcare and civic engagement. For details: please visit the website: www.mifusa.org