Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad receive consignment of SII's Covishield

The first consignment of Covishield vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India facility in Pune early Tuesday and reached Delhi, Chennai and Ahemdabad in Gujarat a few hours later, setting in the process a massive pan-India inoculation drive against Covid-19 that begins on January 16.

The vaccine movement has started, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter. Four airlines will operate nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of the vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday.

Covishield is developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and manufactured by the SII.