GUWAHATI: Ahead of the January 16 launch of the nationwide vaccination drive, the first consignment containing vials of Covishield vaccine were dispatched from the Serum Institute of India from Pune today. According to sources, 736 kg consignment via Spice Jet flight (SG-7451) is scheduled to reach Guwahati Airport at around 5 PM on January 12.
Meanwhile, upon arrival, the consignment will be directly moved to the cold storage situated next to the Guwahati International Airport.
The locations include Delhi, Karnal, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubhaneshwar, Kolkata and Guwahati. It is to be mentioned that the consignment coming to Guwahati will also cater to the state of Meghalaya. "The first flight will leave for Delhi from Pune airport," Sandip Bhosale, SB Logistics, the logistics team which is handling air transport of Covishield vaccine from Pune International Airport told ANI.
The vaccine consignments from Pune includes 276,000 doses to Guwahati, 996,000 doses to Kolkata, 3,72,000 doses to Hyderabad, 480,000 doses to Bhubaneswar, 648,000 doses to Bengaluru, 552,000 doses to Patna and 408,000 doses to Vijayawada on Tuesday.
Serum Institute of India (SII) has received a purchase order from the Government of India for 11 million doses of Covishield vaccine, which would be available at the price of Rs 200 per dose, SII officials had said on Monday The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country is starting from January 16. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said: "We aim to vaccinate 30 crore people in the next few months." Around 3 crore healthcare workers and frontline workers will be vaccinated in the first phase of vaccination, he added. In the second phase, those above 50 years and those under 50 years with co-morbid conditions will be vaccinated, he further said.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter and said four airlines will operate nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday.
The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine will give priority to the healthcare and frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with comorbidities numbering around 27 crore.