Air India transports first consignment of Bharat Biotech vaccine Covaxin

Early morning on January 13, Air India flew the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine from Bharat Biotech called Covaxin from Hyderabad to Delhi.

Sources said that the flight AI 559 took off at 6.40am, with the Covaxin vaccine. The consignment included three boxes, weighing 80.5 kg.

This is the second day of vaccines being flown out to different parts of the country. On Monday, January 12, Air India and its peers - SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir  - flew vaccines from Pune, home to Serum Institute of India, which is making the Covishield vaccine.

The two vaccines from Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech have got the emergency clearance from the Indian government. The first vaccines will be administered from January 16.

While Serum Institute is based in Pune, Bharat Biotech is headquartered in Hyderabad.

Five million doses of vaccines were flown to different parts of India, on January 12. Low-cost airline SpiceJet carried a total of 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine on the first day of the rollout. This included the country’s first consignment of the vaccine, from Pune to Delhi.

Bharat Biotech vaccines reach Delhi on January 13

Over the two days, vaccines will reach over 41 locations across the country, with the first doses to be given from January 16.

To know more about how the vaccines will travel to different parts of the country: This is how COVID-19 vaccines will travel from Pune, to across India.

Executives from the industry said SpiceJet will also be flying vaccines from Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Vaccine transportation also began from the Mumbai airport from January 13. GoAir has scheduled flights carrying vaccines to Lucknow, Cochin and Chandigarh as well, besides Goa, during the day, a GoAir spokesperson told PTI.