Manipur received the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, as the State prepares for the roll-out of the vaccination drive on January 16.
A flight carrying 58,000 doses of Covishield landed at the Imphal airport in the afternoon. Health officials said preparations were complete to vaccinate 41,000 frontline health workers in the State on Saturday at 10 government and private hospitals.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren, who visited the airport to take stock of the vaccine cargo, thanked the Centre for sending the vaccines. He appealed to the people not to scramble for the jab as it would be systematically rolled out for everyone.
Health director Dr. K. Rajo said the vaccine would help bring the pandemic under control.
Manipur has been witnessing a decline in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the recent days. However, a section of people have raised concern over faulty COVID-19 testing in the State after reports of false positive test results emerged.
