Over 193.53 cr COVID-19 vaccine doses provided to States, UTs: Centre

The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday informed that more than 193.53 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States and Union Territories so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

"More than 193.53 crore (1,93,53,58,865) vaccine doses have been provided to States, UTs so far through Government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category," the health ministry said.

The health ministry said that more than 13.40 crore (13,40,04,935) balance and unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the States, UTs to be administered.

The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination started on January 16, 2021.

The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them with COVID-19 vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.

India on Wednesday witnessed a new spike in its daily COVID-19 cases with the country reporting 8,822 new infections in the past 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry. The country logged 6,594 fresh infections on Tuesday, around 18 per cent lesser as compared to Monday with 8,084 COVID-19 cases.

With these fresh cases today, the active caseload has gone up to 53,637 in India, which accounts for 0.12 per cent of the total caseload, the ministry said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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