The first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from Serum Institute of India arrived at Hyderabad airport on Tuesday, confirmed the airport's CEO Pradeep Pcker.
"The first consignment of COVID vaccines from Serum Institute has arrived at Hyderabad airport. The first consignment of Bharat Biotech will be going to 11 destinations outside the state by this evening," Pcker told media.
"So the vaccine programme has started and we are very happy to be part of it. Hyderabad airport is fully geared up to handle all the cargo, both which is coming in from outside and which is going out of Hyderabad airport," he said.
The vaccine transportation has started from Pune to 13 locations across the country, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
In a series of tweets, the Minister said 56.5 lakh doses of vaccines are being transported to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Chandigarh, from Pune.
"Civil aviation sector launches yet another momentous mission. Vaccine movement starts. First two flights operated by SpiceJet and GoAir from Pune to Delhi and Chennai have taken off," he tweeted.
Pcker further said, "Hyderabad per se has one-third production capacity in the world. Hyderabad definitely has a very big role to play for the vaccine programme all over the world. Our GMR cargo team is fully geared up and we have the infrastructure to handle this cargo."
The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive is scheduled to start from January 16.
( With inputs from ANI )
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