Telangana receives 3.64 lakh doses Covishield vaccine

The Telangana government on Tuesdayreceived the first consignment of 3.64 lakh doses of COVID-19vaccine Covishield from the Pune-based Serum Institute.

The vaccine arrived in a freighter aircraft of SpiceJet.

''The state government has received 3.64 lakh crore dosesof Serum Institutes Covishield vaccine from the Centre.

The vaccine will be sent to 139 centres, where thevaccination drive will begin from January 16,'' TelanganaPublic health Department Director G Srinivas Rao said.

From January 18, vaccination in the rest of the centreswill be launched, the official added.

Arrangements have been made to administer the vaccine atover 1400 counters located in 1213 centres all over the stateand it will cover 3.10 lakh frontline workers, he said.

The Covishield containers landed at the Airport at around11.30 AM and were transported from there to the state vaccinestorage centre at Koti here.

Security at the airport's cargo centre was beefed up andthe vaccine containers were sent to the Governments facilitywith police escort, Shamshabad DCP Prakash Reddy said.

Security was also beefed up at the vaccine storagecentre.

A senior government official shifted the consignment tofreezers after performing 'puja'.

The state government has already created cold chainstorage facilities to keep about three crore doses across thestate, including 1.5 crore at the state capital.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Mondayasked officials to make all preparations for COVID-19vaccination from January 16, as part of nationwide inoculationdrive against the killer virus.

He had also said that the state government wouldadminister Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, identifiedby the Centre as effective vaccines, in the state.

Meanwhile,Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar,in a tele-conferencewith all district Collectors to review the preparations,advised them to appoint special officers for each ''launchsite'' (centres where vaccination is scheduled to be launched),an official release said.

They would be responsible for overseeing arrangements atthese sites in their districts as per operational guidelines,including measures to deal with any cases of ''adverse effect''following immunization, it said.

Kumar also told them to keep reserve vaccinators at eachsite.

He suggested that they schedule a smaller number ofbeneficiaries on the first day and ramp-up the numbersthereafter, taking into account the experience gained.

''Considering the importance of the programme, the ChiefSecretary advised the Collectors to seek participation ofpublic representatives at all levels,'' the release said.