New Delhi: A ‘Tika Utsav’ or vaccine festival began in the country from April 11-14 at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an aim to inoculate maximum number of eligible people against the coronavirus amid a surge in cases.
“Can we celebrate Tika Utsav from April 11 to April 14? During this time, we should vaccinate as many eligible people as possible and target zero vaccine wastage,” PM Modi had said at the meeting.
The drive is taking place amid states like Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra warning about fast-depleting coronavirus vaccine stocks.
While some states have flagged a “shortage” of vaccine doses, the Centre has maintained that a sufficient quantity of the jabs have been allocated to all the states and that many of them have been unable to inoculate all eligible beneficiaries.
Over 10 crore people have been administered COVID-19 vaccine doses in the country since the mass inoculation drive began earlier this year, making India the fastest nation to reach the milestone.
