With an aim to vaccinate maximum number of eligible people against COVID-19, India on Sunday launched the four-day-long ‘Tika Utsav’ or vaccination festival.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called ‘Tika Utsav’ the beginning of the second big war against corona.

PM Modi tweeted that, ‘We are going to begin ‘Tika Utsav’ today nationwide. I urge countrymen to abide by four things – assist those who need help getting inoculated, help people in COVID treatment, wear masks and motivate others and if someone tests positive, create micro-containment zone in the area’.

Following PM Modi’s clarion call for mass vaccination, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan asked the nation to unite to fight the pandemic.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh took his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday at the launch of ‘Tika Utsav’ in Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar launched the ‘Tika Utsav’ at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research Institute in Bengaluru on Sunday.

In Jharkhand, eligible people queued up outside an inoculation centre in Ranchi’s Ashok Nagar to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.