Canon India, one of the leaders in the imaging space, has announced a community welfare initiative in collaboration with the CII Foundation to help support their COVID-19 vaccination drive aimed at targeting underserved population in rural areas and urban slums.
This is a step further to CII’s Project ‘Vaccine Nation’ that is strengthening the vaccination drive in the country. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Foundation, along with Canon India, will map the demand for vaccines to help vaccinate the required communities. .
The 15-day vaccination drive started on 12th December across Defence Enclave in Noida (12th-15th), Vasai Virar industrial belt in Mumbai (16th & 17th) and South 24 Parganas in West Bengal (20th-24th), covering the vaccination for over 3.2K beneficiaries. .
To amplify the efforts of the ongoing vaccination drive, Canon India will support CII in mapping the vaccination requirement across states and will assist in setting up vaccination camps along with its members, reaching out to Tier 2 / 3 cities and rural areas. The initiative will adopt a multi-stakeholder approach where-in local grassroot NGOs and local authorities will partner to help mobilise and promote vaccination among the local communities. .
Commenting on the partnership, Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India said, “In the past two years, it has become important more than ever for humanity to come together and support communities in need amidst the devastating impact of COVID-19. At Canon, we are driven by our corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei’, which means living and working together for the common good. In line with this vision, we have introduced several COVID-19 relief measures in our adopted villages since the emergence of pandemic. Strengthening our CSR endeavours, we are proud to collaborate with CII Foundation, in accelerating the vaccination drive and support them to target communities across India’s small towns and rural areas. Our inroads into deeper rural communities will not only help people getting vaccinated but also educate them about the benefits so they become much more open towards it. We aim to have a widespread outreach through the vaccination drive and bring across big smiles to everyone in the community.” .
Seema Arora, CEO, CII Foundation and Deputy Director General, CII, said, “The CII Foundation is focussing on vaccinating people in Tier II and III cities and rural India, especially the marginalized and underserved communities, by holding vaccination camps in urban slums and inaccessible areas in over 15 States. It is doing this by working closely with local Governments, industry, medical authorities and hospitals, NGOs and grassroots community workers. The CII Foundation appreciates the commitment of Canon towards the cause and is happy to partner with Canon in accelerating the vaccination drive in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. While the number of Covid cases has been declining steadily, we must not let our guard down and it is imperative to reach out to the underserved communities to vaccinate them.” .
Last year, Canon India had commenced its COVID-19 relief efforts by donating essential ration kits to over 12,500 beneficiaries including the daily wagers and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in its adopted villages and sanitation items to children from SOS Children’s Village Family homes. .
Along with distributing essentials such as surgical masks, sanitizers, liquid soap, and home & surrounding cleansing items, informative and awareness sessions were also conducted for the children of SOS Children’s Villages in Faridabad & Hyderabad. They also provided over 732 PPE kits for healthcare workers of the country to safeguard the paramedical staff and to the government hospitals near their adopted villages in Mumbai, Haryana, and Bengaluru, ensuring the safety of health workers involved. .
In addition to this, Canon India had conducted a vaccination awareness drive earlier this year and set up support camps in its adopted villages- Maheshwari Village (Haryana), Parivali Village (Mumbai), Kalyanpur Village (Kolkata) and Annadodi Village (Bangalore), to help them register for vaccination. .
To increase the preparedness of our adopted villages in any unforeseen circumstances of future COVID-19 surges, Canon also placed oxygen cylinders and related accessories in its adopted villages.
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