PM Modi’s inoculation festival ‘Tika Utsav’ to combat coronavirus starts today

Strengthening the efforts to ensure a healthy and COVID-19 free India. pic.twitter.com/A2cQ22pxEf

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 10, 2021

PM Modi’s call for inoculation drive popularly called as ‘Tika Utsav’ or vaccine festival begins today. It will be held from April 11-14, with the target of inoculating as many eligible people as possible.

During a meeting with chief ministers on April 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated this idea.

However, the vaccine festival is taking place at a time when many states, including Maharashtra, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh, are experiencing a vaccine shortage. Previously, the Maharashtra government had closed many vaccination centres, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced on Friday that inoculation in Mumbai will take place only in government and civic centres between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, several other states, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are preparing, with appeals to eligible people to get vaccinated in the coming days.

Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, has also urged people to get vaccinated in large numbers during the ‘Tika Utsav.’

The health ministry announced on Saturday that India is the fastest nation to administer 100 million doses in 85 days. According to the report, the United States took 89 days to administer 10 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine, while China took 102 days.

The Prime Minister’s Office also tweeted a chart showing India as the quickest country to reach this vaccination milestone, describing it as “strengthening efforts to ensure a healthy and COVID-19-free India.”

On Thursday, during his meeting with chief ministers to discuss the Covid-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive, Modi urged them to focus on vaccinating all people over the age of 45 in high-caseload districts. “Sometimes, it helps in changing the atmosphere. The birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule is on April 11 and on April 14, there is the birth anniversary of Baba Saheb. Can we organise a ‘Tika Utsav: or vaccine festival and create an atmosphere of ‘Tika Utsav’?” he had said

We should use a special campaign to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible while aiming for zero waste. If there is no waste during the four days of ‘Tika Utsav,’ it will increase our vaccination capacity,’ Modi said.

He has also advocated for the best possible use of vaccination capacity. Despite having dropped to around 20,000 a few weeks ago, the daily count of positive cases has recently reached new highs.

While some states have reported a “shortage” of vaccine doses, the Centre has maintained that enough vaccines have been distributed to all states, despite the fact that many of them have been unable to inoculate all eligible beneficiaries.