The central government has so far provided nearly 16.54 crore vaccine doses to States and UTs free of cost

The central government will provide more than 56 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses in the next three days, with the third phase of vaccinations having started on Saturday.

“More than 56 lakh (56,20,670) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the States/UTs within the next 3 days,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on Sunday.

Amid various state government officials claiming a shortage of vaccine doses, the center in a statement clarified that more than 78 lakh COVID Vaccine doses (78,60,779) are still available with the States and Union Territories (UTs) to be administered.

“The Government of India has so far provided nearly 16.54 crore vaccine doses (16,54,93,410) to States/UTs Free of Cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is15,76,32,631 doses (as per data available at 8 am today),” it said.

The implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination has started from May 1.

Registration for the new eligible population groups has commenced since April 28. Potential beneficiaries can either register directly on CoWIN portal (cowin.gov.in) or through the AarogyaSetu app.

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 15.68 crore as the Phase-3 of the nationwide Vaccination Drive commenced on Saturday.

According to the data available on the Ministry of Health website, cumulatively, 15,68,16,031 vaccine doses have been administered through 22,93,911 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.