Dry run begins for COVID-19 vaccination across India
New Delhi: With the objective to gear up for the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine across India, the dry run was expected to be conducted by all the States and UT governments from yesterday. According to Union Health Ministry, the objective of the dry run for the COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to “assess operational feasibility in the use of the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in a field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation”.
This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels, it said.
The activity is proposed to be conducted in all State Capitals in at least three session sites.
Some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain or which have poor logistical support. Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities other than their capital.
In Delhi, the drive will be conducted at three locations – the Daryaganj primary health centre, the government-run Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, and the private Venkateshwara hospital. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had last Friday chaired a highlevel meeting to review preparedness at session sites across India for a COVID-19 vaccination trial run and said just like preparations during elections, each member of the medical teams were to be appropriately trained.
The minister urged every official to ensure that the vaccination sites and officials in-charge abide by the detailed checklist and Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) for vaccination that has been prepared by the Union Health Ministry.
Referring to the Pulse Polio drive in Delhi in 1994, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that as the exercise of vaccination is integrally based on the interaction and involvement of people, relevant stakeholders, NGOs and Civil Society Organisations need to be mobilised.