COVID-19 vaccine: Bharat Biotech set to dispatch first consignment of Covaxin

Hyderabad, Bharat Biotech, which has received Emergency Use Authorisation approval from theDrug Controller General of Indiafor its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, is set to dispatch it from the Rajv Gandhi International Airport here on Tuesday evening, a senior official of the Airports cargo division said.

“Today we have received the first consignment of vaccines from Serum Institute at Hyderabad airport.We received 970 kgs of consignment (from Serum Institute).”

“Today in the evening the first consignment is going out of Hyderabad…. (it is from ) Bharat Biotech. It is going to 11 destinations,” the official told reporters after receiving the first consignment of Covishield vaccines

Covishield is developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

An email sent to Bharat Biotech about the delivery schedule of Covaxin evoked a “no comments” response.

The vaccine programme in the country has started and the airport cargo division is gearing up to meet the demands as the city is the vaccine hub of the world, the official added.

Covaxin is being indigenously developed byBharatBiotechin collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV).

The indigenous, inactivated vaccines developed and manufactured inBharatBiotech’s BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) bio-containment facility, the firm had earlier said.