Pune: Ahead of vaccine rollout on January 16, Serum Institute of India’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ has shipped from Pune to different parts of India.
The first flight carrying COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ has departed from Pune International Airport to Delhi.
Ajay Singh, Chairman, and Managing Director, SpiceJet told news agency ANI that SpiceJet has carried India’s first consignment of COVID-29 vaccine on Tuesday. The first consignment of ‘Covishield’ consisting of 34 boxes and weighing 1088 kg was carried from Pune to Delhi.
He tweeted, “Proud to say that @flyspicejet carried India’s first consignment of COVID vaccines from Pune to Delhi this morning.”
Three trucks loaded with the first doses of the Covishield vaccine against the COVID-19 had left from the Serum Institute of India (SII) building on the outskirts of Pune to the airport, from where they would be sent to various locations across India.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Civil Aviation Minister took to Twitter and wrote, “Civil aviation sector launches yet another momentous mission. Vaccine movement starts.
The first two flights operated by @flyspicejet & @goairlinesindia from Pune to Delhi & Chennai have taken off.”
He added, “Today, Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo Airlines will operate 9 flights from Pune with 56.5 lakh doses to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow & Chandigarh.”
Air India has started to deliver vaccine doses from Pune to Ahmedabad. The airline took to Twitter and tweeted, “Air India is all set to play a pivotal role in the vaccination mission, carrying the first consignment of 2,76,000 vaccine doses weighing 700 kgs approx from Pune to Ahmedabad today.”
The Centre government has said that the vaccine drive will start from January 16 and frontline workers against the coronavirus diseases will be vaccinated in the first phase.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday virtually chaired a high-level meeting with Chief Ministers and Administrators of all States and Union Territories to review the status and preparedness for COVID-19 vaccination.
The Prime Minister lauded the constant coordination and communication between the Centre and the States, and timely decision making, which has played a big role in the fight against the virus. As a result, the spread of the virus has been contained vis-a-vis several other countries.