India is all set to go for the COVID-19 vaccination dry run in all the States and Union Territories on Saturday.
The objective of the Dry Run for COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to assess operational feasibility in the use of 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. This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels, Health Ministry said.
“Dry run for #COVID19 Vaccine administration is being conducted in all States/UTs today in 116 districts across 259 sites,” Ministry of Health tweeted.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan yesterday chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness at session sites across the country for COVID-19 vaccination trial.
Requesting every official to ensure that the vaccination sites and official in charge abide by the detailed checklist and SOP for vaccination that has been prepared by the Union Health Ministry and shared with the States/UTs to guide them in the dry run, Dr. Harsh Vardhan pressed the need for perfect calibration between the administrative and medical officers to make the event a primer that would later enable the mass implementation of vaccination drive.
Re-emphasizing the importance of such an event that involves mass participation similar to the elections, he said, “Let us attempt to implement it as a real exercise with attention to the minutest detail. Proper co-ordination will go a long way in building mutual understanding so that the upcoming vaccination drive may proceed without any glitch.”
The planning for the vaccine introduction will be as per the Operational Guidelines issued by the Ministry on December 20. For each of the three Session Sites, the concerned Medical Officer In-charge will identify 25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers). The States/UTs have been asked to ensure that the data of these beneficiaries is uploaded in Co-WIN. These beneficiaries will also be available at the session site for the dry run. The States and UTs shall prepare the facilities and users to be created on the CoWIN application including uploading the data of Health Care Worker (HCW) beneficiaries, the statement said.
Around 96,000 vaccinators have been trained for this purpose. 2,360 participants have been trained in National Training of Trainers and over 57,000 participants trained in District level training in 719 districts. States are augmenting the State helpline 104 (which shall be used in addition to 1075) for any vaccine/software related query. Orientation and capacity building of the Call Centre executives has taken place in the States/UTs. States were also encouraged to use the FAQs issued by the Health Ministry proactively to address any such query, it said.
