Kolkata, Jan 12 (IANS): With India gearing up for the launch of its nationwide inoculation drive against the coronavirus outbreak on January 16, West Bengal received its first consignment of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield on Tuesday.

Kolkata receives the highest doses of Covishield, which is about 7 lakhs, followed by Chennai while Chandigarh received the least shots of vaccines. The vaccines reached Bagbazar's Central Medical Store by an air-conditioned vehicle directly from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport.

According to state health department officials, about 93 thousand Covishield vaccine foils will be used in the state capital while the rest would be distributed amongst various state-run hospitals in the districts.

The vaccine will reach six districts of north Bengal, Hooghly, Birbhum and North 24-Paragans district in the first phase. The entire process of distributing will be completed by tonight itself, sources said. Doctors and other medical staffs working in Covid hospitals across Bengal will first get the vaccine doses, an official said.

Developed by Oxford University and British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, over 54 lakh doses of 'Covishield' were despatched via airlines from Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Tuesday. The vaccine was manufactured by the Serum Institute in India.

The vaccines were despatched to 11 states across the country. Besides Kolkata, other cities such as Delhi, Chennai, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Vijaywada, Patna, Lucknow and Bengaluru also received Covishield doses on Tuesday.