Guwahati, January 12: The first consignment of 2.40 lakh vials of COVID-19 vaccine for Assam and Meghalaya landed at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport here on Tuesday, an official said.

A freighter ferried 20 large boxes, weighing over 730 kg and containing 2,40,000 vaccine doses, from Pune to Guwahati via Kolkata, Airports Authority of India North East Region's Executive Director M Suresh said. Out of the 20 boxes, 17 are for Assam and three for Meghalaya. Each box has 12,000 doses of vaccine. Covishield To Be Sold at Rs 1,000 in Private Markets, Special Price of Rs 200 Given Only to GoI for First 100 Mn Doses, Says Adar Poonawalla.

The boxes were handed over to the representatives of the health department of both the state governments within the stipulated nine minutes of arrival, Suresh said.

The LGBI Airport has been marked as the nodal point of distribution of vaccine for the North East and it is equipped to transport COVID-19 vaccines to the regional states.

"We will fully cooperate with all the agencies in timely distribution of the vaccine through air cargo. Our cargo wing at Guwahati has readied up its infrastructure and marked pick up points for effective and smooth flow of the consignment", he added.

The AAI in coordination with stakeholders will effectively deliver vaccine doses to all state governments, Suresh said. Airport Director Ramesh Kumar said that it was a proud moment for the LGBI Airport to have received the first batch of COVID vaccine for North East India.

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