New Delhi, Jun 13 (IANS): More than four lakh (4,48,760) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the States and the Union Territories (UTs) within the next 3 days.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) made the announcement through a statement and also clarified that more than 1.53 crore (1,53,79,233) Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and the UTs to be administered.

The Ministry further said that more than 26 crores (26,64,84,350) vaccine doses have been provided to states and the UTs so far, through the government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category.

Of this, the total consumption, including wastages is 25,12,66,637 doses, which reveals the data available at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Central government has been supporting the states and the UTs by providing them Covid vaccines free of cost.

In addition, the Central government has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the states and the UTs.

Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the Central government for containment and management of the pandemic, along with Test, Track, Treat and Covid appropriate behaviour.

In this direction, the Central government implemented the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 vaccination on May 1 this year covering people aged above 18 years. India's vaccination drive began on January 16.

Under the strategy, every month 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by the Central government. It would continue to make these doses available to the state governments totally free of cost as was being done earlier.