Nearly two crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories while around 26 lakh are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.

Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the government of India for containment and management of the pandemic along with the test, track, treat, and COVID-appropriate behavior, it said.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the government has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them COVID-19 vaccines free of cost.

"The government of India has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 21 crore vaccine doses (21,07,31,130) to states and UTs. Of this, the total consumption (including wastage) is 19,09,60,575 doses (as per data available at 8 am today)," the ministry said.

"Nearly 2.00 crore (1,97,70,555) COVID vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered," it said.

"Furthermore, nearly 26 lakh (25,98,760) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the states and UTs within the next three days," it added.

The government has also been facilitating the direct procurement of vaccines by the states and UTs.

Implementation of the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination started from May 1. Under this strategy, every month, 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by the Centre. It would continue to make these doses available to the state governments totally free of cost as was being done earlier, the ministry said.