Millions of doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine left the warehouses of the Serum Institute of India on Tuesday as the country of 1.3 billion people prepares to roll out the shot.
The first batches were loaded onto flights in Pune and Chennai on Tuesday morning, with nine flights carrying 5.7 million doses to 13 cities, including Delhi and Bengaluru, according to Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s civil aviation minister.
The Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. It has conducted trials and manufactured the AstraZeneca vaccine for distribution nationwide.
According to a source aware of the deal, the Indian government has agreed to purchase each dose of the vaccine for Rs 200 ($ 2.72).
“Serum Institute of India has received an order of approximately 11 million vaccine doses from the Indian government,” the source said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country expects to vaccinate 300 million people in the coming months.
“We already have a universal immunization mechanism that has been amplified for Covid vaccination … Covid protocols will have to be implemented on this, even a little looseness can cause damage,” Modi said at a meeting on Monday.
India has registered a total of 10.5 million cases, including 151,327 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the third highest death toll in the world. Tuesday saw the lowest daily rise in the number of cases in nearly seven months, with 12,584 new infections.