Tripura receives 1st lot of 56,500 doses of COVID vaccine

The first consignment of 56,500doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived here on Wednesday in a cargoflight of a private carrier, an official said.

The containers of the vaccine were shipped from Pune'sSerum Institute and ferried to a special storage unit herefrom the city airport, he said.

''The consignment of 56,500 doses of Covishield vaccinearrived at the Agartala airport in the morning. The vaccinecontainers were transported to a National Health Mission (NHM)storage facility at Gorkhabasti area,'' State ImmunizationOfficer Kallol Roy told reporters here.

The health department authorities have already starteddistribution of the vaccine doses to all the eight districtheadquarters of the state, he said.

''We will send the vaccine vials to primary healthcentres and sub-divisional medical facilities from tomorrow,''he said.

Many healthcare personnel across the state havebeen trained for the vaccination drive which will be launchedon January 16.

Tripura's COVID-19 tally stood at 33,315, while 32,857people have recovered from the disease so far and 386 died.

The northeastern state now has 49 active coronaviruscases.