Pune, January 11: The Indian government has placed a purchase order for Covishield, a potential vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19), Serum Institute of India (SII) said on Monday. Pune-based Serum Institue of India has manufactured Covishield, which is developed by Oxford University and pharma giant AstraZeneca. According to the SII, the COVID-19 vaccine would be available at the price of Rs 200 per vial. India Reports 16,311 COVID-19 Cases, 161 Deaths in Past 24 Hours; Coronavirus Tally Reaches 1.04 Crore.

Covishiled and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin have been approved by the central government for restricted emergency use. The government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of drive. One crore healthcare workers, along with 2 crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50 years with comorbidities will be vaccinated in the first phase. Ahead of the mega vaccination drive, two dry runs were conducted. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Serum Institute of India Gets DCGI Permission To Manufacture Its Coronavirus Vaccine ‘Covishield’.

Indian Government Orders COVID-19 Vaccine:

On December 28 and 29, the first dry run was conducted in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Rajkot and Gandhinagar district of Gujarat, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar of Punjab and Sonitpur and Nalbari districts of Assam. The second nationwide dry run was conducted on January 8. The vaccination drive will be rolled out by January 13.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 11, 2021 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).