Chennai: As many as 5.36 lakh doses of Oxford vaccine for Covid-19 – Covishield, manufactured by Pune’s Serum Institute — arrived at Chennai airport today morning in 45 crates. Another batch of 20,000 doses of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, will arrive later.
Tamilnadu Health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said these vaccines will be dispersed to 10 other cold storage units across the State.
The vaccination drive in Tamilnadu will be first rolled out to six lakh healthcare workers, of which approximately 4.5 lakh have already registered in the mobile app.
‘We hope to complete the first round of vaccinations within a week,’ Radhakrishnan said. The initial shots will be given to frontline workers (including doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff). The entire first phase of vaccination is likely to be completed in 2-3 weeks time.
The Centre has allotted a total of 5,56,500 doses of Covaxin and Covisheild for Tamilnadu. The Centre has announced that the first round of inoculation using these two vaccines approved for emergency use in the country will begin on 16 January.
