In News: Recently, The Prime Minister appealed to the Chief Ministers of the States to organise “Tika Utsav”.
Tika Utsav
- Tika Utsav is a vaccine festival.
- It is to be held between April 11, 2021 and April 14, 2021.
- Objective of the festival is to vaccinate as many people as possible.
- Focus on zero wastage of COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 Vaccination Drive in India
- COVAXIN and COVISHIELD are the two major COVID-19 vaccines that are currently administered in India.
- India has shipped 64 million doses of vaccines to 84 countries in Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.
- The major recipient countries of the Indian COVID-19 vaccines are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.
- The GoI has planned to cover 250 million people included in “high priority” category by July 2021 under its vaccination programme.
COVAXIN
- COVAXIN is a government backed vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech.
- It has an efficacy rate of 81%.
- COVAXIN is given in two doses.
- The time gap between the doses is four weeks.
- The COVAXIN was prepared from the dead COVID-19 virus.
COVISHIELD
- The COVISHIELD Vaccine is manufactured by Astra Zeneca.
- Locally, COVISHIELD is produced by Serum Institute of India.
- It was prepared from a weakened version of a common cold virus called Adenovirus from Chimpanzees.
- The virus has been modified to look more like COVID-19 virus.
- It is administered in two doses.
Source: PIB
