World’s largest vaccination drive begins as SII rolls out first batch of Covid-19 batch

Workers transfer carton boxes of a Covishield vaccine developed by Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) that arrived in a truck into the Karnataka Health Department cold storage facility in Bangalore on January 12, 2021, in preparation for the first round of vaccination drive scheduled to begin across the country from January 16. Credit: AFP Photo

In what marks the kick-starting of the world's largest vaccination drive, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) rolled out the first batches of Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday.

Amid cheers, three Kool-Ex Cold Chain trucks laden with Covishield vaccine moved out of the SII campus and headed for the Pune International Airport.

The 13 locations where the vaccines were delivered include Delhi, Patna, Shillong, Ahmadabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Guwahati.

Read | Covishield dispatch for vaccine drive a historic moment: SII

The vaccine consignment in temperature-controlled trucks for Mumbai will leave by road from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway – for which the police teams from Pune, Raigad and Mumbai will create a green corridor.

The trucks came out under a massive security cordon led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Namrata Patil and a few staffers of the SII who cheered and applauded as the consignment left the heavily guarded premises. "This is the first of the rollout of the vaccine,” she said.

Workers unload the first consignment of Covishield vaccine, which arrived from Pune's Serum Institute of India, in Bhubaneswar, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Credit: PTI Photo

The Centre in coordination with state governments will start vaccinating frontline workers against the Coronavirus viral infection from January 16.

The trucks started around 5 am from the SII campus amidst tight security arrangements. At the 5.45 am, the process of loading in aircraft started.

“Ready get set go! Stand by India! The vaccine to kill the disease is being loaded onto the aircrafts for distribution all over the country now,” the Pune Airport tweeted.

“Civil aviation sector launches yet another momentous mission. Vaccine movement starts,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri tweeted.

The vaccines were transported by Air India, GoAir, IndiGo and SpiceJet.

“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,” the Air India said.

“SpiceJet is proud to begin transporting India’s first consignment of Covid-19 vaccine...We are committed towards timely commencement of this historic vaccination drive,” the Spice Jet said.

SpiceJet transported multiple vaccine consignments from Pune to different Indian cities including 276,000 doses to Guwahati, 996,000 doses to Kolkata, 3,72,000 doses to Hyderabad, 480,000 doses to Bhubaneswar, 648,000 doses to Bengaluru, 552,000 doses to Patna and 408,000 doses to Vijayawada.