Covid-19 vaccination: All states to conduct dry run on January 2

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Anticipating the approval of Covid-19 vaccines in India soon, the Centre has decided to carry out a dry run of vaccination drive all over the country on Saturday.

The activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least 3 session sites but some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support.

Maharashtra and Kerala, on the other hand, are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities other than their capital cities.

The subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation on Covid-19, which is in the process of analysing data submitted by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for their vaccines is scheduled to meet on Friday after its meeting on Wednesday remained inconclusive.

The Union ministry of health and family welfare, in a statement on Thursday, said that with the objective of gearing up for the roll-out of vaccines across the country, the Centre has asked all states to ensure effective preparedness.  

The objective of the dry run for Covid-19 vaccine introduction is to assess operational feasibility in the use of COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in the field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide way forward prior to actual implementation, the government said.

This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels.

The planning for the vaccine introduction will be as per the operational guidelines issued by the ministry and for each of the three-session sites, the concerned medical officer-in-charge will identify 25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers).

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The states have been instructed to ensure that the data of these beneficiaries are uploaded in Co-WIN.

The physical verification of all proposed sites for the adequacy of space, logistical arrangements, internet connectivity, electricity, safety the states have also been asked to prepare at least three model session sites in each state for demonstration.

The first round of the dry run was conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Punjab on December 28-29 in two districts each where five-session sites with 25 beneficiaries each were identified.

No major issues were observed in the operational aspects during this dry run. All States expressed confidence in the operational guidelines and IT platform for large scale programme implementation, said the government.