The first consignment of Covidshield vaccine from Pune-based Serum Institute of India has arrived at the Cochin international airport here on Wednesday to combat COVID-19, official sources said.

The Go Air flight carrying the vaccine for Ernakulam and Kozhikode landed at the airport at 10.35 am, they said. Special refrigerated vans were arranged to transport the vaccine safely to the respective centres.

Transfer of vaccine boxes from the plane to vans was completed in 10 minutes, they said. The second flight carrying the vaccine reached Thiruvananthapuram international airport by Wednesday afternoon. National Health Mission sources said of the 4.33 lakh doses of the vaccine, 1,100 would be sent to Mahe, which is an enclave of Puducherry and lies between Kozhikode and Kannur districts. The vaccine will be stored in the Regional vaccine centres at Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode from where it would be distributed to 133 centres across the state.

1 crore 65 lakh corona vaccine to reach nearly 3000 centres in India today

Mumbai airport to handle 2,74,400 doses of Covishield vaccine to 22 cities

Vaccine Transportation: Vistara carries shipments weighing 90.5 kg to Delhi and many other