New Delhi: Much anticipated delivery starts.
The first batch of Covid-19 vaccine has started reaching cities in India. Three trucks rolled out of Serum Institute of India’s Pune factory early this morning carrying the first batches of its COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield, as India gets reads for the launch of a campaign to offer shots to 1.3 billion people in what officials call the world’s biggest vaccination drive. The first batches of Covishield vaccine will be delivered at 13 cities on Tuesday.
Two vaccines — the Covishield developed by the Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin — received emergency use approval from the Drug Controller of India earlier this month. Both are two-dose vaccines, which will have to be administered at a 28-day gap.
Hailing the momentous occasion in India’s fight against the virus Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, “Civil aviation sector launches yet another momentous mission,” as the first two flights operated by SpiceJet and GoAir took off with the vaccines to Delhi and Chennai.
