COVID-19: Health Secretary chairs high-level meet to review vaccine preparedness

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on December 31 chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness at the session sites for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. The meeting, held via video conference, was attended by Principal Secretaries (Health), NHM MDs and other health administrators of all States/UTs. The main aim of convening the officials was gearing up for the mass roll-out of the vaccines across the nation. Hence, the centre also asked all state and UT governments to conduct a ‘Dry Run’ for vaccine administration on January 2, 2021.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a statement said, “With the objective of gearing up for the roll-out of COVID19 vaccine across the country, the Central Government has asked all States and UTs to ensure effective preparedness for the vaccine roll-out. Union Health Secretary Sh. Rajesh Bhushan today chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness at session sites for COVID-19 vaccination with Pr. Secretaries (Health), NHM MDs and other health administrators of all States/UTs through video conference.”

Apart from releasing the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Strategy’ on December 30, the Centre has proposed ‘Dry Run’ to be conducted in all State Capitals in at least three session sites with some states even including the districts that are situated in challenging terrains or lack logistical support. Further, the Government of India also said that states including Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities instead of their Capital.

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Centre orders 85 crore syringes

In a bid to further elevate the vaccination programme, Centre has also ordered 83 crore syringes. Additionally, bids have also been invited for nearly 35 crore syringes. The government said, “These will be used for COVID-19 vaccination and also for the Universal Immunization Programme.”

Meanwhile, a two-day dry run to assess the readiness of the mechanism laid out for the COVID-19 immunisation drive was successfully conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Assam. According to the Union Health Ministry, the end-to-end exercise was undertaken in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Rajkot and Gandhinagar of Gujarat, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar of Punjab, and Sonitpur and Nalbari districts of Assam on Monday and Tuesday.

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