COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin dispatched to 11 cities

COVID-19 vaccine 'Covaxin', developed by the Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), was dispatched to the 11 cities across India. The firm also donated 16.5 lakh doses to the Centre for the COVID treatment. The government has given purchase order for 55 lakh doses, which were sent to Ganavaram, Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow. India's totally indigenous COVID-19 vaccine has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV). On January 12, Covishield and Covaxin, the two COVID-19 vaccines which have received Emergency Use Authorisation (EAU) have been tested on thousands of people and side-effects are negligible, Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said and noted that the two "are safest of the vaccines". The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive is scheduled to start from January 16.