New Delhi: Over 70.31 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given to states and Union Territories and 8 lakh doses are in the pipeline, according to the Union Health Ministry.
According to the ministry around 5.64 crore, balance and unutilized COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs.
The BJP-led government is determined to vaccinate every citizen by end of this year under the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination program in India.
The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, it said.
The Union Culture and Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said that so far around 69 crore people have been vaccinated free of cost. The minister informed around 1.33 crore people were vaccinated in a day and the government is proactively trying to vaccinate everyone by December 2021.
This will help in opening up the country's tourism sector by January 2022.
On Wednesday, 37,875 new cases of coronavirus were recorded which has taken the Covid 19 tally to 3,30,96,718. The Union Health Ministry data also shows that the active cases have declined to 3,91,256.
States have pushed for vaccination drives to ensure a reduction in Covid-19 cases. Recently Himachal Pradesh became the first state to successfully cover its entire eligible population with the first dose of Covid vaccination. Delhi government has also started door-to-door vaccination with Vaccination On Wheels.
The Ministry data also shows that the daily positivity rate has reduced to 2.16 percent and it has been less than three percent for the last nine days. The Centre has still urged people to continue taking Covid-19 precautions despite being vaccinated.