Agartala, April 7 (IANS): The Mission Indradhanush, an immunisation programme, was launched on Tuesday in 33 districts of northeastern states to vaccinate children by 2020, an official said.

The Mission Indradhanush, formulated by the union health and family welfare ministry, intended to expand immunisation coverage in India to at least 90 percent children in next five years.

"The Mission Indradhanush was launched on Tuesday in 33 of the 91 districts in seven northeastern states. These 33 districts are part of the 201 districts in India where the mission was launched on the occasion of World Health Day," a health ministry official said here.

According to the official, the mission would be implemented in eight districts in Assam followed by six in Nagaland, five in Arunachal Pradesh, four each in Manipur and Mizoram, and three each in Tripura and Meghalaya.

Tripura Health and Family Welfare Minister Badal Choudhury said: "The programme provides immunisation against seven life-threatening diseases -- diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and Hepatitis B."

He said: "From today (Tuesday), the immunisation would continue for seven days. The immunisation would again be carried out seven days each in May, June and July."

The minister said though the Centre has selected three of the eight districts in Tripura for Mission Indradhanush, the state government would undertake the immunisation programme in all the eight districts of the state.