Covid-19 Vaccine: The first consignment of Covishield vaccines left the Serum Institute of India on Tuesday morning, ahead of the massive inoculation drive across nation scheduled to kickstart on January 16, a milestone moment in India’s battle against coronavirus. Three temperature-controlled trucks left the premises of Serum Institute shortly before 5 am and left for Pune airport, from where the first flight carrying the vaccine departed to Delhi.

The trucks left the Serum Institute of India premises at Manjari and reached the airport, located 15 km from the facility. Serum Institute of India's COVID19 vaccine 'Covishield' will be shipped to different locations in the country from Pune airport, ahead of January 16 vaccine rollout.

As per PTI, the trucks carried 478 boxes of the vaccines, each box weighing 32 kg.

'SpiceJet has carried India’s first consignment of Covid vaccine today. The first consignment of 'Covishield' consisting of 34 boxes and weighing 1088 kg was carried from Pune to Delhi,' said Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet

Key points:

  • From the airport, the vaccines will be dispatched to 13 locations across the country by 10 am, the source said.

  • A 'puja' was performed before the vehicles left the facility.

  • The locations where these Covishield vaccines will be flown from Pune include Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Karnal, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guwahati, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar.

  • The vaccines will be flown from Pune in eight commercial flights, including two cargo flights, the source said. The first cargo flight will cover Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Bhubaneswar and the second cargo flight will go to Kolkata and Guwahati, he added.

  • The consignment for Mumbai will leave by road. Trucks belonging to Kool-ex Cold Chain Ltd are being used to ferry the vaccine stocks from Serum Institute.

  • Among the first batch, one consignment is scheduled to be shipped by an Air India cargo flight to Ahmedabad.


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