Covid vaccination : Lko tests preparedness with dry run
Initial lack of coordination at some centres during the exercise carried out at six places in the state capital
LUCKNOW: Twenty-one-yearold Abinay Raj Sundaram of Shravasti was first to undergo mock inoculation as a dry run of Covid vaccination began at six places here on Saturday morning.
“It’s a pride moment to be part of a noble cause though I knew the dry run won’t have the actual vaccine,” said Sundaram as he came out of a vaccination centre made at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), one of the six places in the state capital where the dry run was conducted.
Asked if he had any doubts, Sundaram, who is pursuing a paramedical course, said, “After a session by our dean prof Vinod Jain, my vaccination went off smoothly as all doubts were cleared.”
Starting with Lucknow, UP began its dry run of the Covid vaccine by making vaccination centres at KGMU, Lohia institute, SGPGIMS, community health centres in Mal and Malihabad and a private hospital in Gomti Nagar. About 175 volunteers were taken for the drill at these places.
Each vaccination site had 25 volunteers and places such as KGMU, where two desks were set up for the dry run at Kalam Centre building, 50 volunteers were called for the drill.
In the dry run, vaccines vans with cold chain boxes (without actual vaccines) started from Aishbagh cold chain storage point and reached the six vaccination sites.
“A dry run is done to check anomalies so that actual vaccination goes off smoothly. Feedback received from the dry run will be worked upon,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.
Except for giving the actual vaccine, every step/procedure is followed during the drill.
All those who went for the dry run of the vaccine were issued proxy vaccination cards. The real ones will be issued on the day of actual vaccination.
“Before we vaccinate a person, their details are filled on the CoWIN app/portal and when we administer the vaccine, their status becomes vaccinated, indicated by red dot. Names of all beneficiaries have two black dots in front of their names on CoWIN and as they get vaccinated black dots change to red,” said a vaccinator at Lohia institute.
There are five steps to be fulfilled in the vaccination starting with the verification of the beneficiary and ending with issuing of vaccination card and 30-minute waiting period after vaccination.
The district magistrate and the commissioner visited SGPGIMS to take stock of the dry run. The DM also visited the Lohia institute and met doctors and health staff there.
“Arrangements have been made to ensure smooth vaccination right from the cold chain point,” said Lucknow district magistrate (DM) Abhishek Prakash while taking to media persons.
A review meeting was also conducted in the evening to discuss the issues that came up during the dry run.
Lack of coordination at places
At the vaccination centre made at Lohia institute, vaccination started an hour late due to lack of coordination.
“There was some communication gap at Lohia institute. We will remove all such issues that arose today (Saturday) or may crop up on January 5 (when the dry run would be caried out across the state),” said Dr MK Singh, in charge of the vaccination in Lucknow.
At KGMU also, candidates for the dry run of the Covid vaccination were gathered at the last moment.
One “faints” at KGMU
During the dry run, a beneficiary at KGMU “fainted”.
“This was also part of the mock drill conducted to check if any medical need arises during actual vaccination, how quickly we can shift the person to a nearby hospital via ambulance,” said Yogesh Raghuvanshi, spokesperson for the office of chief medical officer of Lucknow.
Dry run in UP on Jan 5
Additional chief secretary, medical health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the next round of the dry run will be conducted in the entire state with 6 vaccination sites in each district on January 5. Of them, half will be in rural areas and the remaining in urban pockets of each district.
In Lucknow, the dry run will be conducted at 12 places on that day. Six places will be repeated while urban health centres of Kakori and Indira Nagar, Medanta Hospital, Lok Bandhu Hospital, Ram Sagar Mishra Hospital and Era Medical College will be added. There are around 9 lakh healthcare workers in Uttar Pradesh out of which 55,000 are working in Lucknow alone.
At SGPGIMS
At the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, three bays of old OPD were converted into identification, vaccination and observation areas and 25 people were included in the mock drill to ensure that the system was put in place.
SGPGIMS has the strength of around 5,500 healthcare workers. Vaccination will be done on four days, said a press communique from the medical institute.
The steps
First the beneficiary’s identity is matched and then their health status is checked.
The details of the person are then uploaded and sent to the second room for vaccination. After the shot is given, the person’s status in the app will be updated as vaccinated and a card will be issued.
The person will then stay for 30-minutes in the third room to see if any reaction takes place. If nothing goes wrong, the beneficiary may leave.