DRY RUN FOR COVID 19 VACCINES

DRY RUN FOR COVID 19 VACCINES

Subject : Science & tech

Context : The Centre is gearing up for the roll out of COVID-19 vaccine across the country, with four States all set to initiate a dry-run for vaccine administration next week, the Union Health Ministry said .

Concept :

• Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab have been selected considering the geographical locations.
• Each State will plan it in two districts and preferably in different (five) session type settings e.g. district hospital, CHC/PHC, urban site, private health facility, rural outreach etc.
• The Ministry added that this exercise will enable end-to-end mobilisation and testing of COVID-19 vaccination process (except the vaccine) and check the usage of Co-WIN in field environment.
• The linkages between planning, implementation and reporting mechanisms and identify challenges and guide way forward prior to actual implementation including improvements that may be required in the envisaged process.
• 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 deployment of team members, mock drill of session sites with test beneficiaries to reporting and evening meeting.
• This will also include testing for cold storage and transportation arrangements for the vaccine, management of crowds at the session sites with proper physical distancing, said the Ministry.
• Detailed checklist has been prepared by the Health Ministry and shared with the four States to guide them in the dry run.
• Meanwhile the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of COVID-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended three prioritised population groups including Healthcare Workers (HCWs) about one crore, Frontline Workers (FLWs) about two crore, and Prioritised Age Group (about 27 crore).