GUWAHATI: The first consignment carrying 2.4 lakh doses of
Covishield vaccine reached the Guwahati airport from Pune on a
Spicejet freighter on Tuesday afternoon.
Over 730 kg of cargo carrying 20 boxes containing the vaccine doses was handed over to health officials of Assam and Meghalaya within nine minutes of the landing. The boxes were received by the
Airports Authority of India’s cargo wing — Airports Authority of India Cargo Logistic and Allied Services Company Ltd — at the domestic cargo complex in Guwahati airport at 4.58 pm. The SpiceJet flight SG-7715 arrived here from Pune via Kolkata and departed for Hyderabad, the AAI said.
“We are equipped to transport
Covid vaccines to different parts of the northeast. The LGBI Airport has been marked as the nodal point of distribution of the vaccine for the region, and we will fully cooperate with all the agencies in timely distribution through air cargo. Our cargo wing in Guwahati has marked pick-up points for a smooth flow of the consignment,” said M Suresh, regional executive director in AAI, northeast.
In a statement, the AAI said 20 boxes — 17 for Assam and three for Meghalaya — carrying 2,40,000 doses were delivered at the Guwahati airport where health officials from Assam and Meghalaya were ready with well-equipped vaccine vans. It said each box has 12,000 doses of the vaccine. Assam health minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “We will start administering the Covid doses from January 16. Doctors and nurses are going to be the first beneficiaries and the process is expected to be completed smoothly.”
Junior health minister Pijush Hazarika said people from the whole of Assam will get the vaccines phase-wise, free of cost. NHM Assam director Lakshmanan S said the target was to vaccinate 7,400 healthcare workers at the 74 sites selected across the state on Saturday. “On Wednesday and Thursday, the
health department will dispatch the vaccine shares to all districts,” he said.
The cargo complex at the Guwahati airport had four cold storages and was ready with all possible arrangements to ensure smooth disbursal of the vaccine. Guwahati airport director Ramesh Kumar said, “It’s a proud moment for us at AAI Guwahati that we, at northeast India, have received the first batch of Covid vaccine. We are hopeful that AAI in coordination with our stakeholders and partners, will deliver vaccine doses to all states.”