Coronavirus vaccine: Bharat Biotech's Covaxin to dispatch from Hyderabad airport today evening

Hyderabad, Jan 12: Bharat Biotech, which has received Emergency Use Authorisation approval from the Drug Controller General of India for its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, is set to dispatch it from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad 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 airports 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).

Theindigenous, inactivated vaccineis developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech's BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) bio-containment facility, the firm had earlier said.