India is all geared up for the mega COVID-19 vaccine dry run today (January 2), to test the operational feasibility of its vaccination programme. All state governments and union territories have prepared for this big day, which will be a trial before the actual vaccination drive begins in India.
During the dry run, all steps will be tested and assessed to find and fix any gaps in the process or report any difficulty. A two-day trial run was earlier successfully conducted on December 28 and 29 in four states - Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.
The planned operations and the laid-out mechanisms for the drive was successful then according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Meanwhile, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday held a meeting to review the preparedness.
The exercise will be conducted in all states in at least three-session sites. A concerned medical officer-in-charge will identify 25 test beneficiaries or healthcare workers at each of the three-session sites. Some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support.
The vaccine introduction will be planned following the operational guidelines issued by the health ministry on December 20. The states and UTs have been asked to ensure that the data of beneficiaries is uploaded on Co-WIN, an online platform for monitoring the delivery of the vaccine.
Let's look at how the states are prepared for the dry run.
Delhi
- The dry run will be conducted at Venkateshwara Hospital in South West district, the Daryaganj dispensary in Central district and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Shahdara district
Pune
- A day-long dry run to check the preparations for COVID-19 vaccination will be conducted in Pune district on January 2.
- 17 registered beneficiaries would undergo the mock drill at three health care centres in Pune city, Pune rural and Pimpri Chinchwad.
- The dry run will emulate everything that would take place during the actual vaccination process.
- Three rooms - waiting room, vaccination room and observation room have been set up at each centre.
Chhattisgarh
- COVID-19 vaccination drive will be conducted in seven districts in Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
- The dry run will be conducted in three centres in each of the seven districts-namely Raipur, Surguja, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bastar and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM).
- District hospital, community health centres (CHCs) and primary health centres (PHCs) have been selected as centres for the exercise.
- The dry run will start from 10 am onwards and 25 people will be part of the dry run in each centre.
- During the mock drill, assessment of cold chain management, vaccine supply, storage and logistics along with management of entry, registration, vaccination and observation of persons who will be administered the vaccine will be carried out.
Lucknow
- A dry run for vaccination against COVID-19 would be held at six places in the state capital on Saturday.
- Both Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar will conduct their dry runs on January 5 as will the rest of the state.
Ahmedabad
- A day-long dry run to check the preparations for COVID-19 vaccination will be held in four districts of Gujarat.
- The first such mock-drill had been conducted earlier this week.
- The new dry run will be conducted in the districts of Dahod, Bhavnagar, Valsad and Anand.
- As many as 300 registered beneficiaries would undergo dummy vaccination at 12 centres across these four districts.
- The Gujarat government has trained 16,000 vaccinators and created a cold chain infrastructure to store one crore vaccine doses.
Punjab
- The Punjab government will conduct the drive in Patiala on January 2 and January 3.
- Punjab has selected Patiala district where the dry run will be conducted at Government Medical College; Sadhbhavna Hospital; and the Community Health Centre in Shatrana.
- The UNDP and WHO will be supporting the drive.
Haryana
- In Haryana, the dry run will be held in Panchkula. The drive will be held at three sites.
- For each of the three sites, the medical officer in-charge will identify 25 beneficiaries (healthcare workers).
Statewise centres
- Maharashtra will hold the dry run at Pune, Nagpur, Jalna and Nandurbar.
- Jharkhand will conduct the dry run in Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Chatra, Palamu and Pakur.
- Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mysuru and Shivamogga will undergo the dry run in Karnataka.
- Tamil Nadu will conduct the dry run in Chennai, Nilgiris, Tirunevlevi, Tiruvallur and Coimbatore.
- In Kerala, the dry run will be conducted in Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanada.
