Covishield Dispatch Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir, and IndiGo transport 56.5 lakh doses of SII's Covishield across India
New Delhi/IBNS: The first batches of coronavirus vaccine began rolling out on early Tuesday from the Pune facility of Serum Institute of India with a total of 56.5 lakh doses to be transported during the day by Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir, and IndiGo, said media reports.
According to media reports, vaccine doses in 34 boxes weighing 1,088 kg doses were carried to Pune Airport in air conditioned trucks.
Ready get set go!
— PuneAirport (@aaipunairport) January 12, 2021
Stand by India!
The vaccine to kill the disease is being loaded onto the aircrafts for distribution all over the country now.@AAI_Official @aairedwr pic.twitter.com/5lY9i4Tjdk
The vaccines were transported in three trucks from the Serum Institute of India facility in Pune around 5 am Tuesday morning, said an Indian Express report.
The doses were flown to Delhi in SpiceJet’s SG8937 — just after 8 am on Tuesday and shortly after in GoAir’s flight G8-904 to Chennai from Pune.
"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," Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.
"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," he said in a subsequent tweet.
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
Reports said several boxes of the vaccine packed in dry ice will be transported in passenger flights following the guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week.
"Proud to say that @flyspicejet carried India’s first consignment of COVID vaccines from Pune to Delhi this morning," tweeted Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet.
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
"The first consignment of Covishield consisting of 34 boxes and weighing 1088 kg was carried from Pune to Delhi on SpiceJet flight 8937. We will be carrying multiple vaccine consignments to different Indian cities including Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Patna and Vijayawada through the day today," he was quoted as saying in an Indian Express report.
In a tweet, Air India said: “Air India is all set to play a pivotal role in the vaccination mission, carrying the first consignment of 2,76,000 vaccine doses weighing 700 kgs approx from Pune to Ahmedabad today”.
#FlyAI : Air India is all set to play a pivotal role in vaccination mission, carrying the first consignment of 2,76,000 vaccine doses weighing 700 kgs approx from Pune to Ahmedabad today. pic.twitter.com/I1BBEn10iu
— Air India (@airindiain) January 12, 2021
On Monday evening, the government had placed an initial order of 11 million doses of Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII).
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