A consignment of 50000 Covishield COVID-19 vaccine doses from Serum Institute of India, Pune arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The latest vaccine consignment weighing 160 kilogram landed at the Srinagar airport Tuesday afternoon and was handed over to the J&K government’s immunization officers, official Twitter handle of the airport said. “Today Consignment of Covishield vaccine of total weight 160 kg and 50000 doses from Serum Institute of India, Pune were received @Aaisnrairport and handed over to the State Immunization officers immediately,” it said.
The consignment received in Srinagar was part of a total 37 boxes containing 4.20 lakh doses of Covishield Vaccine which was dispatched on Tuesday from Pune Airport to Delhi airport and for onward delivery to destinations in Karnal, Dehradun, Jammu and Srinagar on an Indigo flight, airport official said.
Earlier on May 1, 15 boxes containing 432 kg Covaxin and 5 boxes containing 160 kg of Covishield vaccines were received at the Srinagar Airport.
Speaking to Greater Kashmir, Director Srinagar Airport, SantoshDhoke said the airline officials, airport authorities and officials of J&K government have been jointly working to ensure that the unloading and shifting of the consignment takes place smoothly.
“It is advisable that as soon as the consignment reaches here, it is put in a controlled temperature. One has to ensure that there is no time wasted in unloading of these vaccine consignments” Dhoke said.
Dhoke said the cargo team of the Airports Authority of India coordinates with airline officials and J&K administration officials to ensure that unloading and shifting of the vaccine takes place in a time bound manner. It may be mentioned that in a press conference held last week officials of J&K administration had said that 1.25 crore doses of vaccines have been ordered by Jammu and Kashmir, making it the largest placed order for vaccines in the country. COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 18-45 began in Jammu and Kashmir on May 1 with people only in Srinagar and Jammu cities getting the jab subject to prior registration.