From the early hours of January 12 till mid-afternoon, Serum Institute of India was able to release at least half of the 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to various locations across the country. “An emotional moment for the team at Serum Institute of India as the first shipments of Covishield finally leave for multiple locations across India,” tweeted Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII). Amid tight security, three temperature-controlled trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute gates with their precious cargo shortly before 5 am on January 12. The trucks carried 478 boxes of the vaccines, each box weighing 32 kg, news agency PTI reported quoting an unnamed official. A ''puja'' was performed, along with the traditional breaking of coconuts, before the vehicles headed out of the facility for the Pune airport. A total of nine flights carrying 478 boxes with 56.5 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine left Pune airport for 13 locations on January 12. vaccines were delivered at Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Chandigarh, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted. Watch the video to know more.