First consignment of 54,900 vials of Covid-19 vaccine reaches Patna

The first consignment of 54,900 vials of Covishield vaccine of the Serum Institute of India reached Patna by a Spice Jet flight (SG 757) from Pune on Tuesday afternoon.

The vaccines were taken in three refrigerated vans under police escort from the airport to the state vaccine store at the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH). Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey and principal secretary, health, Pratyaya Amrit, were at the airport to oversee arrangements.

“Each vial will cater to 10 doses,” said Dr Binod Kumar Singh, medical superintendent of the NMCH, where the vaccines have been kept.

The vaccine will cater to 5.49 lakh beneficiaries in the state. Over 4.67 healthcare workers from Bihar have so far enrolled on the CoWIN portal for the first phase of vaccination against Covid-19 to begin countrywide on January 16.

After completing paper formalities, the vaccines will be dispatched to 10 regional vaccines stores at East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Saran, Saharsa, Nalanda and the Public Health Institute in Patna before being distributed across 300 vaccination centres for the inaugural day vaccination on January 16.

The second consignment of vaccines for around 5.5 lakh frontline workers is expected to arrive either later this month or early next month, said a senior state health officer.

Bihar has mapped 14,724 vaccinators for first phase of vaccination. Another 45,000 potential vaccinators, who are doctors, dentists, nurses, medicos, nursing students and paramedics in public and private health facilities have been identified for mass vaccination.

Bihar has a storage capacity of 51 lakh vials at its state vaccine store in Patna and 10 regional vaccine stores.

The state vaccine store has an average storage capacity of 15 lakh vials in its walk-in cooler and another 5 lakh vials in its walk-in freezer. Vaccines are taken in refrigerated vans to the 10 regional vaccine stores in the state before being taken in cold boxes. The state has around 2,000 ice-lined refrigerators for field-level vaccination.

Bihar has enrolled around 10 lakh beneficiaries for the first two phases of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers. It is eyeing a priority target group of 1.5 crore to 2 crore people for vaccination, including healthcare and frontline workers, those above 50 years of age and people with co-morbidity belonging to any age group.

“This is a historic day for us when we have received the Covid-19 vaccine,” said minister Pandey.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate the vaccination programme at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences on January 16.