Nearly 700,000 Covishield vaccines to reach Kolkata today

The vaccines would first be taken to the central store of the health department in Kolkata from where they would be sent to 941 Covid chain points across the state

With four days remaining for the Covid vaccination drive to begin, around 700,000 Covishield vaccines are scheduled to arrive in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Vials of Covishield before being packaged a lab of Serum Institute of India, in Pune. (File photo)

“The first consignment of Covishield vaccines, comprising 689,000 doses, is scheduled to arrive in Kolkata in the afternoon from Pune’s Serum Institute,” said a top official of the state health department.

Dry runs have already been carried out across the state in this month itself. While the first dry run was done at three sites in North 24 Parganas, it was carried out in all the districts, including Kolkata, later.

The vaccines would first be taken to the central store of the health department in Kolkata from where they would be sent to 941 Covid chain points across the state.

The state government has identified 44,000 vaccinators and more than 4,000 vaccine administration session sites for phase-1 vaccination. Around 580,000 government and private healthcare workers have been enrolled. Data of another 250,000 police personnel and 125,000 municipal workers was also being uploaded.

Covid-19 cases have come down drastically in the state in the past two months. On November 1, West Bengal had more than 36,000 active cases. This dropped to around 7,000 on Monday.

Till date, the state has reported 561,000 Covid-19 cases out of which, 9,957 people have died. Kolkata and North 24 Parganas district have reported the maximum cases in the state.