More than 2.28 crore Covid vaccine doses are still available with states, Union Territories and private hospitals for inoculation, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Over 45.73 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far through all sources and 24,11,000 additional doses are in the pipeline. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 43,80,46,844 doses, according to data available at 8 am on Tuesday.

The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalisation of vaccination commenced from June 21.

The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and Union Territories 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 Union Territories by providing them covid vaccines free of cost.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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In the new phase of the universalisation of the 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 Union Territories.

Over 2.28 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses still available with states, UTs: Govt

Over 45.73 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far through all sources and 24,11,000 additional doses are in the pipeline. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 43,80,46,844 doses, according to data available at 8 am on Tuesday.