Ahead of the January 16 nationwide vaccination drive, the first Covishield vaccine consignment containing vials were dispatched from the Serum Institute of India (SII) in the early hours of Tuesday.
Amid tight security, three trucks carrying the very first consignment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine left for Pune airport to be flown to 13 locations across the country today. The locations include Delhi, Karnal, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubhaneshwar, Kolkata and Guwahati.
“The first flight of vaccine consignment left for Delhi from Pune airport,” informed Sandip Bhosale, SB Logistics (logistics team handling air transport of Covishield vaccine).
All vaccines were dispatched by 10 am. A total of eight flights- two cargo flights and other regular commercial flights carried the vaccines, he said.
The first Cargo flight with the vaccine consignment will drop off the consignment at Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Bhubhaneshwar while the second cargo flight will go to Kolkata and Guwahati.
Elaborate security arrangements were made for the first consignment, informed Namrata Patil, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DCP), Pune.
Pune-based logistic firm Kool-ex Cold Chain tasked with ferrying the vaccine stocks via tech-enabled trucks laced with temperature control feature ranging from -25 degrees to +25 degrees Celsius.
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 ₹200 per dose, SII officials had said on Monday.
