Tamil Nadu receives over five lakh doses of SII's Covishield vaccine

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said the vaccine will be stored in the state vaccine centre in DMS campus and it will be distributed to 10 regional depots.

COVID-19 vaccination arrived in Chennai at Department of public health and preventive medicine. (Photo | R Satish Babu, EPS)

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu received over five lakh doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India (SII) Pune. The Union Government dispatched the vaccines in a GoAir airline on Tuesday morning.

The vaccine reached the Chennai airport around 10.30 am, confirmed the state Health Department.

The health workers will be inoculated with the vaccine first in Tamil Nadu on January 16.

Speaking to the press before receiving the vaccine consignments, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said the vaccine will be stored in the state centre in DMS campus and it will be distributed to ten regional depots.

The state has kept 46 vehicles for the transportation of the vaccine to regional depots and to the vaccination sites from there, he added.

Chennai received the first batch of #COVID19 vaccine, #Covishield.
Express photos | @haisat2005.@xpresstn pic.twitter.com/Kk5Rxph5sC

— The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) January 12, 2021

"The state will receive 5,36,500 Covishield vaccine from SII in the first phase. Next 20,000 Covaxin produced by the  Bharat Biotech will be received," Radhakrishnan said.

The Covid-19 vaccination programme will begin from January 16 in around 300 sites in Tamil Nadu and taking the vaccine is entirely voluntary.