More than 17.15 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been so far provided free of cost to states and union territories, the central government informed on Thursday.
More than 89 lakh doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, said the union health ministry in a statement. It also added that over 28 lakh doses, in addition, will be received by the states and UTs in the next three days.
The country had started the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 with two vaccines -- Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited).
The second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities against the coronavirus began on March 1. The third phase began on April 1 for all above 45 years of age, while people aging above 18 to 45 became eligible for inoculation in the next phase which commenced on May 1.
The country has been witnessing a massive surge in COVID-19 infections and on Wednesday registered 4,12,262 new cases and 3,980 related deaths, as per the government data.
( With inputs from ANI )
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