PATNA: The first batch of 54,900 ‘Covishield’ vials landed here from Pune on Tuesday to start the
Covid vaccination process at the 300 centres across the state on January 16. Each vial has 10 doses. The consignment was transported from the airport in three refrigerated vans to a special temperature controlled storage facility at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in
Patna with heavy police escort. The vaccines will be sent from NMCH to 10 regional centres for further distribution in different districts.
State health minister Mangal Pandey, who was present at the city airport along with department’s principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit and other officials, said primarily the health and frontline workers would get the shots from the consignment available to protect themselves from the Covid-19 infection. “We have received 54,900 vials of Covishield. Each vial contains 5 millilitres of vaccine and only 0.5ml is administered in one dose,” Pandey explained.
The minister said the vaccination drive in the state would be launched at the IGIMS in Patna at around 10.45am on Saturday in the presence of CM Nitish Kumar. “Around 4.77 lakh frontline workers in the state have registered themselves on CoWIN portal for vaccination so far,” he said.
The beneficiaries will have to get the second dose of the vaccine after 28 days. It will be the responsibility of the district administration concerned to keep the vaccines stored safely.
State health department special secretary Manoj Kumar said though there are 5.49 lakh doses available, only 2.5 lakh people would be administered the shots from this consignment as one dose of Covishield has to be kept for the second round use by the beneficiaries after 28 days. “There will be some wastage too,” added Manoj. Earlier, he had said the state will also get 20,000 doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech.
When asked about the next batch of consignments, Pandey told TOI that the central government would inform the state as per requirement and availability.
Amrit said those who have registered for vaccination would receive notification via SMS on January 16. “January 25 is the last day to get registered for the first phase of vaccination drive,” he added.
Pandey said 100 people at each of the 300 centres in the state would be administered the shots on the first day of vaccination programme. The 300 centres include government medical college and hospitals, sadar and sub-divisional hospitals, primary health centres and private medical institutes. “Special syringes required for the vaccination have already been supplied to these centres,” he said.
“It’s a historic day for the country, our scientists and Bihar, too, that an indigenously manufactured vaccine would be given to the people for fighting Covid-19. This a step towards PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision,” Pandey said.
In reply to comments made by the opposition leaders on the vaccine, Pandey said he doesn’t know if they have any knowledge of health or medial science, but the vaccine has been developed as per international standards after three phases of trial.