India started its four-day special vaccination drive "Tika Utsav" announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today amid declaration by several states that they are running low on vaccines. A landmark 10 crore people have been vaccinated so far.
Here are the top 10 developments in the story:
Besides Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan states have said they are running low on vaccines.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said his state had only five days of vaccines left.
In Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said his state has enough vaccine only for two days.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the national capital had between seven and 10 days of stock left. Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding "urgent need for vaccine universalisation and vaccine nationalism". He said: "Several states have run out of stocks of vaccines & remaining states have stocks left only for three to five days."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a statement this morning, made a four-point appeal to the people, asking each person to help another person vaccinate, take safety measures and help with Covid treatment.
In the event of somebody testing positive for Corona, the society should lead in the creation of a 'Micro Containment Zone', he said. Even if there is a single positive case, the family and the society should create a 'Micro Containment Zone', PM Modi said.
Overall, the country has vaccinated 10 crore people. Eight states -- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala -- account for 60.62 per cent of the doses.
PM Modi had announced the Tika Utsav on Thursday at a meeting with Chief Ministers, saying, "We should vaccinate as many eligible people as possible and target zero vaccine wastage".
Maharashtra, which has the maximum number of Covid cases among states, has been saying since Tuesday that it is running low on vaccines. The state has said it needs 40 lakh doses a week on account of its huge population.
Last week, it has to temporarily shut vaccine Centres in Mumbai, Satara, Panval and other towns as vaccine supply ran out.
