As India’s healthcare system gets ready to implement the liberalised and accelerated phase-III strategy of Covid-19 vaccination from 1st May, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the Government of India has so far provided nearly 16 crore vaccine doses.

The centre provided more than 16 crore vaccine doses to various states and union territories (UT) at free of cost.

Of this, the total consumption including wastages is around 15.1 crore doses and more than one crore vaccine doses are available with the States/UTs to be administered.

Also, more than 20 Lakh vaccine doses will be received in addition by the States/UTs within the next three days.

“The Government of India has been at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with test, track, treat and Covid appropriate behaviour, vaccination is a crucial pillar of the five point strategy of Government of India to fight the pandemic,” the ministry said.

There have been some media reports recently quoting some Maharashtra State Government officials pointing out that the vaccines in the State are finished thereby adversely impacting the vaccination drive in the state.

Responding to the above comments, the ministry clarified that the total Covid-19 vaccine doses received by Maharashtra as on 28th April 2021 (at 8 am) are 1.6 crore. Of this, the total consumption including wastage was around 1.5 crore and a balance of almost 7.5 lakh vaccine doses are still available with the state for administration to the eligible population groups.

On the other hand, registration for vaccination of the new eligible population groups has started from Wednesday (28 April). Potential beneficiaries can either register directly on CoWIN portal (cowin.gov.in) or through the Aarogya Setu app.