Vaccine Roll-Out: Govt To Conduct Dry Run In 4 States Next Week

New Delhi: With the Centre gearing up for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine in the country, it has planned to conduct dry run in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab “considering the geographical locations”.

A release by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday said as part of the dry run, each state will plan it in two districts with a preference on conducting five sessions in different settings like district hospitals, CHC/PHC, urban sites, private health facilities or in rural areas.

This exercise will enable end-to-end mobilization and testing of COVID-19 vaccination process and check the usage of Co-WIN in field environment apart from providing a hands-on experience to programme managers at various levels.

“This two-day activity is planned on December 28 and 29, and will include activities from the necessary data entries in Co-WIN to vaccine receipt and allocation to the deployment of team members, mock drill of session sites with test beneficiaries to reporting and evening meeting,” the release stated.

It further stated that the government has also trained participants who will administer the vaccine across various states.

To strengthen India’s capacity for COVID-19 vaccine introduction and roll-out, the government has prepared detailed training modules for different categories of vaccine handlers and administrators including medical officers, vaccinators, alternate vaccinators, cold chain handlers, supervisors, data managers, ASHA coordinators and all others involved in the implementation process at different levels, the release said.

“The training includes all operational aspects like the organization of vaccination sessions, use of Co-WIN IT platform for the management of the entire vaccination process, deployment of HR Cold chain preparedness, Management of adverse events, communications and intersectoral coordination, biomedical waste management, infection prevention protocols etc.,” it added.

Also Read: Indians Likely To Get First COVID-19 Vaccine Shot in January: Harsh Vardhan