A total of 1.5 million doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived at the Yangon International Airport yesterday. On the government-to-government basis, the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from India was transported to Myanmar by Air India.
Indian Ambassador Mr Shri Saurabh Kumar handed over the 1.5 million doses of the Covishield vaccines to Director-General from Medical Research Department Professor Dr Zaw Than Tun at the Yangon International Airport.
Regarding the assistance to Myanmar, the Indian Ambassador said that India is providing the home-made vaccines to the partner countries, including Myanmar. He also quoted the Prime Minister of India as saying that India’s vaccine would be useful for fighting the pandemic. Deputy Director-General of Yangon Region’s Public Health Department Dr Tun Myint said that it is still necessary to be careful of COVID-19 after being vaccinated the first time. Prevention guidelines are still required to be abided by until the second dose of vaccine is received to avoid the waste of valuable medicines.
The vaccines need to be stored in the room temperatures of 2 to 8°C. As some of the previous vaccines were stored in the cool chain room, it is not a problem for the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines will be transported to the central cool chain room and distributed to regions and states. The government of India donated the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccines to Myanmar in enhancing Myanmar-India relations and helping Myanmar in the fights against the pandemic. Second batch of the vaccines will soon arrive in Myanmar.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar