Drone delivers vaccines to remote Maharashtra village, covers 40-minute journey in just 9 minutes | 91mobiles.com

On Thursday, a batch of 300 COVID-19 vaccines was transported from the Jawhar to Zaap village, situated in rugged terrain. According to officials, it usually takes 40 minutes to travel between Jawhar to Zaap village, but the delivery was done in just nine minutes thanks to the drone, a difference of over 77 percent. As per an official, the distance between the two locations is about 20km. The batch of vaccines was delivered to the local public health centre.

Dr Dayanand Suryavanshi, District Health Officer, said that this was possible because of the private entities that came forward to help. The state’s Public Health Department collaborated with Blue Infinity Innovation Lab and IIFL Foundation to conduct the trial.

The Maharashtra government plans to execute the drone delivery in other parts of the state, including the Nandurbar, a tribal populated village.

“This will go a long way in the vaccination drive as the doses can now easily be sent to the doorsteps of those villagers, who find it difficult to reach the inoculation centres. To some extent, it will also help remove the misconceptions related to vaccination from the minds of people,” Dr Dayanand Suryavanshi said.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Udhav Thackrey, praised the efforts and said, “It’s a great example of how modern technology can be utilised for the benefit of the common masses.”