Vaccines Begin to Reach States, Preps India for Inoculation Program

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 13 January 2021, 03:01:20 PM IST

Vaccines Begin to Reach States, Preps India for Inoculation Program

COVID-19 vaccination drive is all set to be launched in India from January 16. About 13 cities all over India have already received more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine which was flown from Pune yesterday, and are taken to designated national and state-level stores amid tight security. In what our Prime Minister called as the world’s largest inoculation program, priority will be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.

 Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said that both the COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized for emergency use and there should be no doubt about their safety. They have been tested on thousands of people and side effects are negligible.

However, the Maharashtra government has acquired nearly 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine from SII, of which Mumbai received over 1.39 lakh doses of Covishield early on January 13. Bengaluru received the first consignment of nearly 6.48 lakh doses of the vaccine on January 12, while the first consignment of the vaccine arrived Kolkata airport on January 12, afternoon. Other states that have received their first consignment of the vaccine doses are Telangana (3.64 lakh doses), Chattisgarh (3.23 lakh doses), Odisha (4.8 lakh doses), Bihar (54,900 doses). States including Assam & Meghalaya (2.4 lakh combined doses), MP, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat have also received their first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine vials.

The vaccine delivery drive began in India from Tuesday in Delhi with the first batch of vaccines. During the day, nearly 54.72 lakh vaccine doses were received at several vaccine stores in 13 cities all over India.

Commenting on this, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the GoI agreed to procure 110 lakh Covishield vaccine doses from SII at 200/dose. 55 lakh doses of Covaxin to be procured from Bharat Biotech, of which 38.5 lakh doses are priced at 295/dose.

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