The Centre on Tuesday (27 April) said that it has provided more than 15 crore vaccine doses to states and Union Territories (UTs) "free of cost" so far, and more than 80 lakh additional doses will be received by the states/UTs in the next three days.

"Government of India has so far provided more than 15 crore vaccine doses (15,65,26,140) to states/UTs free of cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 14,64,78,983 doses," the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.

"More than one crore doses (1,00,47,157) are still available with the states/UTs to be administered," the Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, 86,40,000 more doses will be received in addition by the states/UTs in the next three days, it added.

As per the ministry data, states that have more than 3.70 lakh doses of vaccine as balance are Chhattisgarh (3,72,147), West Bengal (3,97,146), Madhya Pradesh (4,67,961), Tamil Nadu (5,13,119), Karnataka (5,42,725), Jharkhand (5,95,883), Gujarat (6,09,076), Bihar (7,50,587), Maharashtra (9,23,060) and Uttar Pradesh (10,10,581).

Referring to reports quoting some government officials from Maharashtra that the vaccines in the state are finished, thereby adversely impacting the vaccination drive, the Health Ministry sought to clarify that the total Covid vaccine doses received by Maharashtra as on April 27 (at 8 am) are 1,58,62,470.

"Of this, the total consumption including wastage (0.22 per cent) was 1,49,39,410. Balance of 9,23,060 doses is still available with Maharashtra for administration of vaccine doses to the eligible population groups. Furthermore, three lakh doses of Covid vaccine are in the pipeline for delivery in the next three days," the ministry said.

The government said that vaccination is a crucial pillar of the five point strategy of the country to fight the pandemic, which includes 'Test, Track, Treat' and Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) as the other complementing and equally important containment and management measures.

"India launched the world’s largest Vaccination Drive on 16 January 2021. A Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination will be implemented from 1 May 2021. In its Phase 3, the National Vaccine Strategy aims at liberalised vaccine pricing and scaling up of vaccine coverage. Procurement, eligibility and administration of vaccines have been made flexible as part of the Liberalised vaccination Strategy," it said.