India is using indigenously developed drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to access compromised areas and strengthen the vaccine delivery system to ensure everyone everywhere get these lifesaving vaccines.
The ICMR-led pilot project is being rolled out in Manipur, Nagaland and Andamans and Nicobar Islands.
The inaugural flight of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone) delivered 900 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Old DC Complex in Bishnupur district in Manipur to Karang Primary Health Centre (PHC), which is on an Island in Loktak Lake. These doses were used to vaccinate 25 people at Karang PHC on the first day of the initiative on 4 October 2021.
The drone delivered the vaccines over 31 km in less than 15 minutes from District Hospital Bishnupur to Karang PHC compared to the 3-4 hours needed to transport the vaccines to Loktak Lake, which is the largest natural freshwater lake in India.
The i-Drone project will also deliver vaccines from plains to plains, plains to hills, and plains to islands in the districts of Imphal West, Churachandpur, and Tamenglong in Manipur. 