Centre to provide 1.92 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses to states from May 16 to 31

New Delhi: The central government on Friday (May 14) said that it would provide about 1.92 crore COVID-19 vaccines doses free of cost to various states from May 16 to 31.

Out of the total, 1.62 crore will be Covishield doses, while 29.49 lakh will be Covaxin doses, the health ministry said.

The ministry informed that between May 1 and 15, Centre has provided more than 1.7 crore vaccine doses to the states.

"The basic objective behind informing the states and UTs in advance of the quantum of free vaccine doses to be made available from Government of India for 15 days is to ensure that they prepare effective plans for judicious and optimum utilisation of these free vaccine doses which are meant for the age group of 45 and above, and for healthcare and frontline workers," the ministry said.

The ministry further said that apart from the doses procured by the Centre, there were about 4.39 crore doses left for the states and private hospitals to buy directly from the two manufacturers – Serum Institue of India and Bharat Biotech.

Notably, the Centre has ordered that 50% of the vaccines produced would be allocated to it for carrying out the drive across the country, while the remaining 50% could be procured by the state governments and private hospitals.

According to the ministry, a total of about 18 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far and that India was the fastest country globally to reach the 17 crore target in 114 days.