Global beverage giant, Coca-Cola has risen to the need of the pandemic hour to relay a unique aid to people. The CSR arm of the company has decided to cater transport services to about 1.45 lakh people in rural India to get their vaccination jab. The service will be provided across 4,400 communities and villages in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Delhi and Haryana. Besides, the Coca-Cola Foundation aims to spread awareness and encourage community participation to accelerate the vaccination drive.
Easing vaccination across rural India
The fight against coronavirus has truly brought the world together, as a unified force. People and communities have reached out to ferry help across ethnic or geographical boundaries and the most recent example of this is the Coca-Cola CSR campaign. As per reports, the Coca-Cola Foundation has undertaken the responsibility to facilitate the inoculation campaign in rural India and deliver safety kits in 25 districts across 10 states.
It has also paved the way for the non-profit ‘United Way Mumbai’, under the umbrella of its global initiative ‘Stop the Spread’. “We are hopeful that with collective effort and resilience by all, we will be able to steer ourselves out of these difficult times,” said Saadia Madsbjerg, President of TCCF.
It has rolled out the provision of a vaccination transportation facility under the wing of its corporate social responsibility. This ferry service will ease jab procurement for many, who have been assigned vaccination centres away from their domicile regions. The TCCF aid will ferry such people to the centre, where they will undergo a one-on-one health checkup. Post this, the beneficiaries will be administered the COVID jab. Simultaneously, the initiative is pegged to strengthen the operations of about 440 vaccination centres in rural and urban India.
Phased operations across states
The Coca-Cola Foundation has decided to expand the service in a phased manner across listed states. The project will pan out to assist the transportation of more the 20,000 members from rural communities in Karnataka, while in Maharashtra, this count is marked at 7,200 people.
India has suffered greatly from the second wave of coronavirus, emphasising the need to strengthen immunity against the infection. However, a sharp decline in the positivity rate along with an accelerated vaccination drive is drawing in a hope of normalcy, soon.
