NEW DELHI:

The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that it has provided over 21 crore 80 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses to the states and Union Territories to date.

The vaccines doses have been given both through the free of cost category and through the direct state procurement category, the centre said.

Further, of the total vaccine doses given to the states/UTs, the total consumption including wastages is over 20 crore doses, and the states and Union territories still have 1.80 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses.

In addition to the total vaccine doses provided to date, another 48 lakh vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be sent to the States and Union Territories within the next three days.

The Central Government is providing COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to the states/UTs as a part of the nationwide vaccination drive.

In addition to that, the centre is also facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the States and Union Territories from the centre.

Extensive vaccination has become integral to the government to contain the spread of the virus, and thus, the government is laying a lot of stress on vaccination.

The vaccination programme in India has been rolled out in a phase-wise manner given the vast population, with a majority of the population still in the fray for being inoculated.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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