'Tika Utsav' Kicks Off from Today, PM Modi Posts 4 Requests for Vaccine Beneficiaries

India will observe ‘Tika Utsav’ or vaccine festival across the country from Sunday (April 11) to April 14 with an aim to inoculate a maximum number of eligible people against the coronavirus amid a surge in cases. At the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are gearing up with appeals being made to eligible people to get themselves vaccinated during the duration of the ‘Tika Utsav’.

PM Modi on Sunday took to Twitter making four requests for beneficiaries: Vaccinate, Treat, Save and Check the spread of the disease.

All eligible citizens can register and book an appointment with the help of CoWIN portal and Aarogya Setu App. On-site registration facility is also available. The Tika Utsav is being seen as a special drive to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also issued an appeal to people to get vaccinated in large numbers during the ‘Tika Utsav’. In his interaction with chief ministers to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi had urged them to focus on vaccinating all those who are above 45 years in age 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 vaccinate as many eligible people through a special campaign and decide on zero wastage. If there is zero wastage in four days during ‘Tika Utsav’, it will also increase our vaccination capacity,” Modi had asserted.

He has also called for making optimum utilisation of vaccination capacity. “Let’s see how we can mobilise things from April 11 to 14 and there will be satisfaction of achievement. It will greatly help in changing the situation. I have also told the Indian government to provide as many vaccine doses as possible,” he said.

This should be our endeavour to vaccinate maximum eligible people during the ‘Tika Utsav’, Modi had asserted. The daily count of positive cases reached new record highs in the last few days despite having dipped to about 20,000 a few weeks back.

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.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said four lakh people of the state will be vaccinated during Tikka Utsav, starting from tomorrow. Mr Kumar exhorted people to come forward for vaccination to contain the corona pandemic. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said there is no shortage of vaccines in the state.

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