Kerala to get first Covishield vaccine consignment of over four lakh doses on January 13

Kerala will receivethe first consignment of over 4.33 lakh doses of Covishieldvaccine to combat COVID-19 on Wednesday from the Pune-basedSerum Institute of India, the state government said.

The first flight carryingthe vaccine is expected toreach Kochi's Nedumbassery airport at 2 pm on Wednesday and by6 pm, another set will reach the Thiruvananthapuramairport,sources said.

Health authorities have made all arrangements toreceive the vaccines and dispatch them to the centresconcerned.

Of the 4,33,500 lakh vaccine doses, 1,100would be sent to Mahe, which is an enclave of Puducherry andlies between Kozhikode and Kannur districts, National HealthMission sources told PTI.

The vaccine will be stored in the Regionalvaccine centres at Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram andKozhikodefrom where it would be distributed to 133 centresacross the state.

''Thiruvananthapuram will receive 1,34,000 doses ofthe vaccine, while Ernakulam and Kozhikodewillreceive1,80,000 and 1,19.500 doses respectively,'' HealthMinister KK Shailaja said in a release.

So far, 3,62,870 people have registered themselvesfor the vaccination,which will commence from January 16.