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Next consignment of Covishield vaccine over next five days
PUNE The next consignment roll out of Covishield vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured at Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, is likely as the cold chain transport company has been asked to prepare for a major movement over next five days
PUNE The next consignment roll out of Covishield vaccine by Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured at Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, is likely as the cold chain transport company has been asked to prepare for a major movement over next five days.
“We have been asked to be prepared with almost seven trucks leaving from the city every day for the next five days at least. The number may change depending on the order,” said Kunal Agarwal, co-founder, Koolex Cold Chain Solution Pvt Ltd.
“We do not get to know the destination of the truck until it is sealed and an invoice is created. There may be delays in the process as we have seen earlier as well,” he said.
Pune airport, on Wednesday, witnessed the movement of three more passenger flights which carried the remainder of the boxes of Covishield vaccine as per the work order issued by the Government of India.
Through flight and road transport collectively, a total of close to 11 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine produced at SII, Pune, were delivered on Tuesday, according to officials of the institute.
“What the firm is left with are 9,000 vials, as part of a purchase order placed by Centre,” according to a statement by Serum. These 9,000 vials contain 90,000 doses.
“A GoAir flight carried three boxes to Chennai, a SpiceJet flight carried 34 boxes to Delhi, and one Air Asia flight carried 37 boxes from Pune to Jaipur on Wednesday,” said Kuldeep Singh Rishi, director, Pune airport.
Furthermore, six trucks left around 10pm from SII and reached Mumbai Central Hub, Silvasa, Surat, Baroda, Jhansi, and Belgaum, along with Mumbai airport. From Mumbai airport, the boxes further went to Goa, Lucknow, Chandigarh, and Kochin, on Wednesday morning.
The vaccines were delivered to Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Shillong, Vijaywada, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, by air. Of the nine flights which carry the load from Pune, eight left in the morning while one left in the evening in six-passenger and two cargo flights.
The vials were carried to the airport in three trucks that left Serum at 5am. Two trucks belonged to SII while one belonged to a company to which the major road transport has been outsourced.
The trucks in the company’s fleet are of various sizes - ten feet containers which can carry around 40 boxes, 14 feet which can carry 60 boxes, 20 feet containers which can carry 120-130 boxes, 24 feet containers which can carry 200 boxes and 28 feet container which can carry around 250 and 32 feet containers which can carry 400 boxes, according to Agarwal.
“The company, on behalf of SII, is currently catering to 48 government depots across the country,” he added.
“Later in the evening, six more trucks left from Serum for Mumbai city, Mumbai airport, Surat, Baroda, Jhansi, and Belgaum,” he said.
