Having received 9,63,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine vials, Maharashtra on Tuesday geared itself to administer the vaccine to the people across the state in the first phase of vaccination, even as the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) sent out the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine vials to 13 locations across the country.Of a total of 14.50 tonnes of vaccine vials it dispatched to various locations across the country on Tuesday, the SII has made available 9.63 lakh doses to the state health authorities.
Talking to media persons here, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said: “We will distribute the vaccine vials district-wise as per the instructions received from the Corona Vaccination Experts Group set up by the Centre. The vaccination drive will be undertaken at 511 locations in 36 districts in the state”.
“As many as 784,000 health workers have so far registered themselves on the state’s Covid-19 portal. The process of registration will continue till midnight of Tuesday-Wednesday,” State Principal Secretary (Health) Pradip Vyas said.
Vyas said that apart from 7.48 lakh people who had registered themselves on the state’s Covid-19 portal, another 17,749 vaccinators had also registered for the vaccination drive. Tope said that as part the drive, his ministry had identified nine priority groups for the vaccination, including health care and frontline workers comprising all government and private health institutions, Asha, Anganwadi, central police forces, armed forces, home guard and municipal workers
According to Tope, the third group comprised all people above 50 years of age and those below 50 year with co-morbidities.
“Each centre will vaccinate at least 100 people and all arrangements have been made for the vaccination teams comprising 5 members each at all locations,” Tope said.
The state government has set up cold chain centres set up across the state. These include 34 at various districts and 27 in various municipalities, 4 Walkin Freezers, 21 Walkin Coolers, 3,937 Deep Freezers, and 4,153 ILRs. The Walkin coolers have come up at Thane, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Latur, Akola and Nagpur.
The Centre has sent 1,200 Vaccine Carriers which have already been dispatched to the districts and municipal corporations.
In a related development, three Kool-Ex Cold Chain trucks laden with Covishield vaccine left from the SII campus to the Pune International Airport for onward despatch to 13 locations across the country.
The locations where the vaccines have been dispatched include: Delhi, Patna, Shillong, Ahmadabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Guwahati.Meanwhile, as SII despatched 14.50 tonnes of vaccine vials to various locations across the country on Tuesday, its CEO-owner Adar Poonawalla described the occasion as “a historic and emotional moment” for him.
“An emotional moment for the team at SII as the first shipments of Covishield finally leaves for multiple locations across India,” Poonawalla tweeted along with with two photographs – one with the entire SII team and another with the temperature-controlled truck.
“This is a historical moment that vaccines are being dispatched from our factory. Our main challenge is to bring it to everyone in the country. It is our challenge for 2021, let’s see how it happens,” Poonawala told media persons later.