Kerala’s first consignment of Covishield arrives in Kochi

Another batch will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram later in the day. The state will be getting 435,000 vials in the first phase, said the state health ministry

Kerala’s first batch of Covishield, the Coronavirus vaccine developed by Serum Institute of India in association with the University of Oxford, reached the Cochin airport on Wednesday. Another batch will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram later in the day. The state will be getting 435,000 vials in the first phase, said the state health ministry.

A police officer performs prayers in front of a truck carrying first consignment of Covishield, before it leaves Serum Bio-Pharma Park of Serum Institute of India, for its distribution, in Pune on January 12. (Reuters)

Police-escorted vehicles carried the vaccine boxes to Ernakulam and Kozhikode storage centres. The health ministry said a list of frontline health workers was ready and they had been alerted about the administration of vaccine on Saturday. From regional vaccine centres in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode, the vaccine will be distributed to 133 centres across the state.

“We are ready for the roll-out. Thiruvananthapuram will get 134,000 doses, Ernakulam 180,000 and Kozhikode 119,500 doses,” said state health minister KK Shailaja. From Kerala quota, 1,100 doses will be sent to Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry sandwiched between Kannur and Kozhikode districts. Besides hospital employees, ambulance drivers, ASHA workers and employees of the social security mission will also be administered the vaccine in the first stage.

In view of the rising caseload, the state has sought more vials in the first stage itself_ as on Tuesday active cases were 64,556 and in last 10 days, test positivity rate (TPR) remained the highest in the country. When the country’s TPR since January 1 is between 4 and 5%, it is between 9 and 10% in the state, statistics shows.