First lot of COVID-19 vaccine vials to arrive in Kolkata on Tuesday

The first consignment of over10.5 lakh vials of COVID-19 vaccines will be reaching Kolkatafrom Pune on Tuesday, a senior official of the state healthdepartment said.

Arrangements have been made to ferry theconsignment from the city airport to state-owned CentralFamily Welfare Stores at Bagbazar -- the biggest depot forstockpiling vaccines in Bengal, he said.

''Tomorrow we will be receiving the first consignmentof Covid-19 vaccines from Pune. The vials will be loaded fromthe Pune airport in the afternoon and will reach here,'' theofficial said late on Monday night.

Health department officials initially reported thatthe first consignment will have around 70-80 lakh vials ofCOVID-19 vaccines.

At the Bagbazar store, five walk-in-coolers (WICs) andfour walk-in-freezers have been prepared to store thevials, he added.

Hoping that distribution of the vials to otherdistricts 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 numberand other specifications,'' he said.

The central government had last week said that thenationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive would begin on January16. Frontline workers will be among the first ones to receivethe dose.