o Consignment of 113000 doses of Covishield lands at Dehradun airport
o Vaccine to reach all district headquarters today
In a major step in the direction of Covid-19 vaccination in Uttarakhand, 1,13,000 doses of Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University – AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country, arrived in the State capital Dehradun on Wednesday. The flight number GG 779 of Spice Jet from Mumbai brought the vaccine at Dehradun airport, Jollygrant at 2.45 pm. From here the authorities took the vaccine to the central drug store where it was kept safe at walk in cooler.
Giving information about the arrival of the vaccine, the secretary health, Amit Singh Negi at the State secretariat, here on Wednesday, said that the vaccine would reach all the district headquarters including those located in remote areas till Thursday afternoon. From January 16, the vaccination drive in the State is commencing. Negi said that out of 1,13,000 doses received initially, 1,640 would be administered to the health care workers of the central Government, 3450 for the armed forces medical services and 107530 for the health workers of both private and Government sectors in the State.
The health secretary said that every vehicle transporting vaccines to the district would be provided with an escort vehicle of the police. He said that auto disposal syringes are being made available with the vaccine doses and every beneficiary would be provided with a vaccination card. This card is being supplied with the vaccine dose. Negi expressed hope that the state would soon receive the second consignment of the vaccine.
The health secretary made it clear that the vaccine is optional and denied having any information about any reluctance among the health workers for receiving the vaccine jab. He said that the vaccine has a shelf life of six months and the state has a robust system of cold chains for transportation and storage of the vaccine.
Negi said that the central government has made the district wise allocation of vaccine. For Dehradun 28920 vaccine doses are earmarked while 18050 doses are for Haridwar, 12010 for Nainital, 8680 for Udham Singh Nagar, 7670 for Pauri, 7160 for Tehri, 6970 for Almora, 5820 for Pithoragarh, 4880 for Chamoli, 3950 for Uttarkashi, 3320 for Bageshwar, 2610 for Champawat and 2580 for Rudraprayag district.
