West Bengal is all set for the much-awaited COVID-19 inoculation drive commencing from Saturday and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will supervise the exercise virtually from the state secretariat, an official said here.
The chief minister is also likely to be present at the inauguration programme at one of the 210 centres in the state.
Vials of Covishield, which arrived in the city from Pune's Serum Institute on Tuesday, have been ferried to cold chain facilities at the five medical colleges in Kolkata as well as other hospitals in the districts, the official said.
"The CM will be monitoring the vaccination process virtually from the state secretariat. She may be present at a government medical establishment during the inaugural of the vaccination process," he said.
The vaccination centre where Banerjee will be present has not yet been fixed.
A health department official said, "We have to go in tandem with New Delhi. We will be starting at 9 am and follow the proceedings in the capital."
Adequate police personnel have been deployed around the vaccination centres as well as the cold chains to ensure safety of the vials.
Around 90,000 frontline health workers at government and private hospitals have been enrolled for the first phase of the vaccination process in West Bengal.
Kolkata has been allocated the highest number of 93,500 vaccines, followed by North 24 Parganas district (47,000) and Murshidabad (37,500).