First consignment of COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in Kolkata today

The first consignment of over 10.5 lakh vials of COVID-19 vaccines will be reaching Kolkata from Pune on Tuesday, a senior official of the state health department said. Arrangements have been made to ferry the consignment from the city airport to state-owned Central Family Welfare Stores at Bagbazar - the biggest depot for stockpiling vaccines in Bengal, he said.

"Tomorrow we will be receiving the first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines from Pune. The vials will be loaded from the Pune airport in the afternoon and will reach here," the official said late on Monday night. Health department officials initially reported that the first consignment will have around 70-80 lakh vials of COVID-19 vaccines.

At the Bagbazar store, five walk-in-coolers (WICs) and four walk-in-freezers have been prepared to store the vials, he added. Hoping that distribution of the vials to other districts may begin shortly after it arrives, or on Wednesday, the official said all "transportation has been arranged".

"Before the vials are dispatched to other districts, we will have to take down details, such as the batch number and other specifications," he said. The central government had last week said that the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive would begin on January 16. Frontline workers will be among the first ones to receive the dose.

Also read: First Covishield consignment leaves Serum Institute's Pune facility ahead of Jan 16 rollout