Bhubaneswar, January 12: The first batch of Covishield, a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here at 3.25 PM on Tuesday.
The consignment consisted of 40,800 vials of vaccine having 4.08 lakh doses, said Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, P K Mohapatra. Another 30,000 doses of Covaxin of Bharat Biotech have also been dispatched.
At least 3.28 lakh health workers will be vaccinated in the first phase. The nation-wide vaccination programme will begin from January 16.
A consignment consisting of 34 boxes weighing over 1,200 kg of Covishield vaccine, manufactured by SII arrived at the Airport here on a special SpiceJet flight from Pune via New Delhi.
The vaccines will further be sent to different centre across Odisha through 1,222 ice-lined vans.
While the health workers including doctors, nurses and paramedical staff will be administered vaccines in the first phase, the front line workers like police, para-military and Disaster Management personnel and Revenue Department officials will be vaccinated in the second phase.
Mohapatra said the elderly health workers will be given vaccines on priority basis. The State has already identified 162 vaccination sites where people will get vaccinated, he added.
The vaccination centres include district headquarters hospitals, sub- divisional hospitals, CHCs (community health centre), PHCs (primary health centre), medical colleges and private hospitals.
Two sites Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and Sundergarh district headquarters hospital have been identified for the two-ways video conferencing where the Centre can take feedback from these two through VC.
Meanwhile, the State Government has already conducted a dry run for vaccination twice this month on January 2 and January 8.
