Over 3.70 crore unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses still available with States, UTs, says health ministry

New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday informed that more than 3.70 crore unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the States and Union Territories to be administered. The Ministry further said that 203.03 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States and UTs so far “More than 203.03 crore (2,03,03,52,325) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through Govt. of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category,” it said. “More than 3.70 Cr (3,70,12,740) balance and unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered,” the ministry added. The Central Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The nationwide COVID-199 vaccination started on 16 January, 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21 June, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain. As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them with COVID vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs. Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 216.56 crore as per provisional reports till 7 am today. As per the Health Ministry, the country reported 5,664 new cases in the last 24 hours. COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 4.08 crore (4,08,08,126) adolescents have been administered with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Similarly, the COVID-19 precaution dose administration for the age group 18-59 years also started from 10 April, 2022, onwards. Notably, India’s active Caseload currently stands at 47,922 and the active cases now constitute 0.11 per cent of the country’s total positive cases. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.71 per cent. 4,555 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,39,57,929. The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 1.79 per cent and the daily positivity rate is reported to be 1.96 per cent. The last 24 hours saw a total of 2,89,228 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 89.15 Cr (89,15,77,185) cumulative tests. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.