COVID-19 vaccine roll out: Maharashtra to get 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield today

India is all set for the roll-out of the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine inoculation drive across the country. This drive will kick off from 16 January. Today, on January 12 the first batch of vaccines from Serum Insitute of India (SII) was dispatched to various parts of the country. Flight from Air India and SpiceJet carried the first lot of the vaccine from Pune airport to their respective destinations. 

'May all be free from disease,' was written on all COVID vaccine boxes dispatched from the SII.

Civil aviation sector launches yet another momentous mission.

Vaccine movement starts.

First two flights operated by @flyspicejet & @goairlinesindia from Pune to Delhi & Chennai have taken off. pic.twitter.com/uo11S4OvqK

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 12, 2021

The SpiceJet flight took off from the Pune airport at 8 am, to Delhi and Chennai, with India's first consignment of the vaccines. Whereas, Air India flew a consignment to Ahmedabad, at 9.40 am carrying a load of 700 kg. 

Proud to say that ⁦@flyspicejet⁩ carried India’s first consignment of COVID vaccines from Pune to Delhi this morning. pic.twitter.com/OlloFf58ly

— Ajay Singh (@AjaySingh_SG) January 12, 2021

Taking it to Twitter, the SpiceJet shared that the airlines is proud to begin transporting India’s first consignment of coronavirus vaccine today. The first consignment of Covishield would be arriving from Pune to Delhi on SpiceJet flight 8937. The airlines and its staff is committed towards the timely commencement of this historic vaccination drive.

SpiceJet is proud to begin transporting India’s first consignment of #COVID19vaccine today. Pictured here is the first consignment of #Covishield arriving from Pune to Delhi on SpiceJet flight 8937. We are committed towards timely commencement of this historic vaccination drive. pic.twitter.com/BdSOA8hCVb

— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) January 12, 2021

The airlines will carry vaccine consignments with 56.5 lakh doses to cities including Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Patna and Vijayawada through the day.

Today @airindiain @flyspicejet @goairlinesindia & @IndiGo6E will operate 9 flights from Pune with 56.5 lakh doses to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow & Chandigarh.

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 12, 2021

Besides, GoAir, the Wadia family-owned low-cost airline, is also moving consignments from Pune, reports suggested.

Coming over to Maharashtra, it has come to light that the state has been allocated 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine from Serum Institute (SII) and 20,000 doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech as per a mail received from central health authorities late night on Monday, January 11.

Much of the vaccines from Serum's Pune facility will also be moved to the Mumbai airport, which has a larger capacity. The Mumbai airport will be handling over half of the Covishield vaccines coming out of Serum Institute of India's (SII's) Pune facility.

The Pune airport is controlled and owned by the Indian Air Force, and is undergoing runway resurfacing. It is closed from 8 pm to 8 am, limiting its ability to transport vaccines.