After Covishield, 2nd Consignment of 36,000 Covaxin Doses Arrive in Assam

GUWAHATI: After 1st consignment of COVISHIELD vaccine, Assam has received its second consignment of Covid-19 Covaxin vaccines that landed at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport, Borjhar in Guwahati on January 13. Speaking to Sentinel, Indra Mohan, Guwahati Airport PRO said, "Three boxes of vaccines, each containing 12,000 doses reached Guwahati Airport at around 9:15 AM."

"The consignment has come directly from Hyderabad to Guwahati by flight no. INDIGO 6E-6538," he added.

It is to be mentioned that a day after Serum Institute of India rolled out its vaccine against COVID-19 ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive, the first batches of Covaxin, the Bharat Biotech's coronavirus vaccine, left Hyderabad early this morning for Guwahati and 10 other cities.

According to the Health Ministry, 55 lakh doses of Covaxin and 1.1 crore doses of Covishield - produced by Serum Institute - are being procured. Both these vaccines were approved by the country's drug regulator for restricted emergency use earlier this month.

Bharat Biotech is charging Rs. 295 per dose for 38.5 lakh doses. The company, which has partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research for the vaccine, will give 16.5 lakh doses to the centre free of cost.

Meanwhile, the first consignment of 54,000 doses Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) reached Manipur in the early hours today.

On the other hand, 35,000 doses of Covishield have arrived at the State Vaccination Center, Shillong while consignment of 60,000 doses Covid vaccine arrived at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport, Agartala.

Reportedly, Assam has identified 74 centres across the state for the Covid vaccination drive, and around 1.5 lakh health workers will be vaccinated in the first phase.

An official of the Assam health department said that the vaccine will be distributed to regional centres in the state and the first phase of the vaccination drive will start at 74 centres across the state from January 16.

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