Kolkata to get vaccine today, not clear how much – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Centre on Thursday told the Bengal government that it would receive the first tranche of the Covishield vaccine ampoules on Friday. There is, however, neither any clarity over the logistics of the shipment from the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune, nor do state health officials know when — and how many — shots would reach Kolkata, against the six lakh vaccines that were requisitioned for frontline Covid warriors.
Health department officials said a letter from the health ministry reached Swasthya Bhavan on Thursday evening after several tense hours, during which all communication channels over the vaccine’s dispatch had gone on the blink. There was complete silence on the issue after a countrywide meeting, between SII and various stakeholders to discuss the transport logistics, got cancelled in the morning.

With two crore vaccine doses required to be transported to 41 destinations across the country, it is a huge logistics challenge.
Both Indian Air Force transport planes, as well as freighters of private airlines, are expected to be used to ferry the consignments in boxes measuring 2ft × 1.5ft × 1ft. Each box will contain 1,200 vials, and each vial will have 10 doses. Bengal needs 50 boxes to vaccinate 6 lakh frontline workers now. After a couple of months, it will require another consignment of 50 boxes to administer the second dose to each of the vaccine recipients.
Even as officials at Kolkata airport were in the dark over when the arrival of the vaccines, sources said vaccines meant for the northeast, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and perhaps even those for Bihar and Jharkhand, would reach Kolkata airport before being transferred to passenger flights, to be shipped to each destination.
“For the consignment meant for Bengal, the boxes will be immediately loaded on freezer trucks for transport to the state’s central medical stores in Bagbazar, which has been identified as the hub for storing Covid-19 vaccines required for the state,” said Ajay Chakraborty, state director of health services. The facility has walk-in coolers and deep freezers. Covishield vaccines require to be stored at 2°C-8°C.
The sorting process — how many vaccines will be sent to which districts — will depend on the number of doses that arrive on Friday. “The allocation will be worked out over the next two-three days and will then be dispatched to the districts and kept ready for rollout sometime on January 13 once the Centre gives the go-ahead,” said a health department official.