Ahead of vaccination drive, states across India received the first consignments of the COVID vaccine on Tuesday.
About 54,72,000 doses were received by various States and by January 14, 100% doses will be received.
Assam received the first consignment of over 2 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’, and Guwahati airport has been made a nodal hub for its distribution across the seven states in the region.
Over the next few days, more boxes of the life-saving drug are expected at the Guwahati airport from where they will be taken to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura via road or air, including flights, choppers and small cargo planes depending on the weather conditions.
The Health ministry said that in addition to ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’, four more vaccines are currently in the country’s pipeline.
1.1 crore ‘Covishield’ and 55 lakh ‘Covaxin’ vaccines have been procured at a cost of Rs 200 and Rs 206 per dose, respectively, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.
Meanwhile, Centre hinted that for now, the COVID vaccine recipients will not have the option to choose from the two vaccines recently approved for restricted emergency use in India.