Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’ shipped to 11 Indian cities after SII’s ‘Covishield’

Publish: 6:32 PM, January 13, 2021 | Update: 6:32 PM, January 13, 2021

NEW DELHI, – The Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine “Covaxin” was shipped to 11Indian cities by air at early hours of today, a day after Serum Institute of India (SII) delivered its first consignment of “Covishield” in 13 cities of the country.

Covishield, a coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Oxford University and Astra Zeneca and manufactured by SII, has already been reached to the respective destinations amid tight security.

The 11 Indian cities where “Covaxin” vaccines have been sent are- Ganavaram, Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow, according to a statement issued by the company today.

“After having received the government purchase order for 55 lakh (5.5million) doses (Covaxin), Bharat Biotech shipped the first batch of vaccines (each vial containing 20 doses),” it said.

Covaxin is an indigenous Covid-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV).

As India is set to begin a countrywide massive vaccination drive against coronavirus on January 16, some1.3 billion Indian people will be vaccinated during the drive, which officials described as the “world’s biggest inoculation drive” against Covid-19.

The first consignment of “Covishield” was transported to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Chandigarh yesterday by the Indian air liners -Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo.

The two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, have been given emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 3.

In the first phase of India’s vaccination plan, 30 million frontline workers will be vaccinated while 300 million citizens would be vaccinated in the next few months, according to official sources.