THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala will receive the first consignment of over 4.33 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine to combat COVID-19 on Wednesday from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, Health Minister KK Shailaja said.

The first flight carrying the vaccine is expected to reach Kochi's Nedumbassery airport at 2 pm on Wednesday and by 6 pm, another set will reach the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

Health authorities have made all arrangements to receive the vaccines and dispatch them to the centres concerned, the minister added.

Of the 4,33,500 lakh vaccine doses, 1,100 would be sent to Mahe, which is an enclave of Puducherry and lies between Kozhikode and Kannur districts.

The vaccine will be stored in the Regional vaccine centres at Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode from where it would be distributed to 133 centres across the state.

"Thiruvananthapuram will receive 1,34,000 doses of the vaccine, while Ernakulam and Kozhikode will receive1,80,000 and 1,19.500 doses respectively," KK Shailaja said.

So far, 3,62,870 people have registered themselves for the vaccination, which will commence from January 16.