New Delhi, May 2 (IANS): With its aim to vaccinate a maximum number of people to curb the Covid-19 menace, the Centre has decided to provide more than 56 lakh vaccine doses to the States and Union Territories within the next three days.

"A total of 56,20,670 additional Covid vaccine doses will be provided to the states and the UTs in the next three days," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Sunday.

The decision was taken at a time when the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 15.68 crores on Sunday with over 86,000 beneficiaries covered in Phase-3 of the nationwide vaccination drive commenced on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the MoHFW clarified that it has so far provided nearly 16.54 crore vaccine doses (16,54,93,410) to states and UTs "free of cost". "Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 15,76,32,631 doses (as per data available at 8 a.m. on Sunday."

More than 78 lakh Covid vaccine doses (78,60,779) are still available with the states and the UTs to be administered.

A total of 86,023 beneficiaries of the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose of Covid vaccine across 11 states as the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 vaccination came into force on Saturday.

These states are Chhattisgarh (987), Delhi (1,472), Gujarat (51,622), Jammu and Kashmir (201), Karnataka (649), Maharashtra (12,525), Odisha (97), Punjab (298), Rajasthan (1853), Tamil Nadu (527) and Uttar Pradesh (15,792).

Cumulatively, 15,68,16,031 vaccine doses have been administered through 22,93,911 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 a.m. on Sunday, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).