Covid jab rollout: Another pan-India dry run on January 8

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 6

Ahead of the planned rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Centre will hold a second pan-India dry run on January 8 across all 700 plus districts except those in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will tomorrow also hold a virtual meeting with his state counterparts to discuss vaccination challenges and mock drill preparations for Friday.

The exercise is a precursor to the largest inoculation drive in the world expected any time before January 13. Preparations are in full swing to deliver Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN although Covishield is expected to be used in the first phase to vaccinate 30 crore priority group people.

“As a simulation of the actual execution, another round of dry run in all 700+ districts of all States and UTs except UP and Haryana is planned on January 8, 2021 to ensure efficient planning and management for vaccine delivery in each district.  UP and Haryana have either already conducted or will be conducting the dry run in all districts on January 5 and 7, respectively,” the government said.

Each district will identify three types of session sites, similar to the previous dry run, including a public health facility, a private health facility and a rural or urban outreach site.

In the virtual meet between central and state health ministers tomorrow the entire planning of the vaccination drive, including beneficiary registration, will be tested under the leadership of district collectors and district magistrates.

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The dry run will familiarize the state, district, block and hospital officers on all aspects of the COVID-19 roll out.

This activity will help administrators strengthen the linkages between planning, implementation and reporting mechanisms, identification of residual challenges prior to actual implementation and boost confidence of programme managers about their ability to deliver the world’s largest vaccine plan.

1.7 lakh vaccinators trained

1.7 lakh vaccinators and 3 lakh vaccination team members have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which include beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, bio-medical waste management, adverse events following immunization, and reporting on COVID vaccine delivery’s digital platform Co-WIN.