First Batch Covishield Vaccine Leaves Pune

The government inked a contract with Serum Institute of India for 11 million doses. The first consignment of the Covisheild vaccine left the SII in Pune and was headed to Pune airport with a police es

The government inked a contract with Serum Institute of India (SII) for 11 million doses and these would be flown out of Pune in the first phase. On Monday 11th Jan evening 6 refrigerated trucks reached SII in Pune. 

The first consignment of the vaccine left the SII in Pune at 4:55am and was headed to Pune airport with a police escort. 

SpiceJet will carry the consignment from Pune in its 8 am Delhi flight. The flight will carry around 700 kilograms of vaccine. A total of 14 flights are to leave from Pune airport with the vaccine vials weighing 14.592 tonnes in about 456 boxes. These vaccines would be carried in private air carriers and would be taken to destinations including two Chennai-bound, two Kolkata-bound, two Chandigarh-bound, and one each headed for Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Lucknow and Guwahati. While Pune airport will see the bulk of the movement, vaccines would also be trucked to Mumbai and flown to different locations within the country. 

According to aviation sources, SII vaccines will be packed in a box weighing 32 kilograms. Each box would have around 12,000 doses and gel packs for refrigeration. 

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