India's COVID-19 vaccine dry run begins in all states, day after Covishield recommendation

A dry run of COVID-19 vaccination delivery system in all states across country is set to take place on Saturday, January 2 to test mechanism laid out for COVID-19 immunisation drive, which is expected to begin soon. This comes morning after India's drug regulator's special expert committee (SEC) recommended Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute 'Covishield' vaccine for emergency use.

This is second dry run being conducted in country, first major run-through was held on December 28 and 29 where Centre conducted vaccination drive in four states, namely - Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, which had gone off smoothly.

As India prepares to roll-out its iculation drive to stem global epidemic, here’s all you need to kw about ongoing dry runs being conducted by Union Health Ministry.

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What is a vaccine dry run?

A dry run is a dummy process that will help government assess how ready we are for nationwide COVID-19 immunization program. It will also highlight any shortcomings in mechanism laid out for vaccine drive so y can be addressed beforehand and avoid any difficulty.

aim of dry run is to test links between planning and implementation and to identify challenges. dry run will also test Co-WIN application, developed specifically for Coronavirus iculation drive, in a field environment.

Who will participate in dry run?

dry run will see participation of staff of designated vaccination centres, followed by a select group of health care workers. Each centre will identify test beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine dry run. 

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Where will dry run be conducted?

Today’s dummy vaccination drive will be conducted in 116 districts across 259 sites in various states and Union Territories. Some states also include districts that have poor logistical support.  

Dry runs will be held in following centres across states:

Delhi: Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Shahdara; Urban Primary Health Centre in Daryaganj and Venkateshwar Hospital in Dwarka

Punjab: state is conducting dry run in Patiala. identified sites include - Government Medical College; Sadhbhavna Hospital; and Community Health Centre in Shatrana.

Haryana: Here, dry run will be held in three health centres in Panchkula

Jammu and Kashmir: Dy run will be held in 9 hospitals in 3 districts - Jammu, Srinagar and Kulgam.

Chhattisgarh: All seven districts of Raipur, Surguja, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bastar and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM).

Uttar Pradesh: Sahara Hospital, RML Hospital, King George's Medical University and SGPGI as well one centre each in Mall block and Malihabad block in Luckw

Jharkhand: Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Chatra, Palamu and Pakur districts

Gujarat: Dahod, Bhavnagar, Valsad and Anand districts

Maharashtra: Pune, Nagpur, Jalna and Nandurbar districts

Karnataka: Bengaluru (Urban), Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mysuru and Shivamogga districts

Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Wayanad and Palakkad districts

Bengal: Urban Primary Health Centres at Duttabad; Madhyagram and at Amdanga Rural Hospital in rth 24 Parganas district.

How will dry runs be conducted?

During dry run process, each designated centre will carry out every step of iculation drive, from registering test beneficiaries in Co-Win database to verifying ir ID cards. vaccinators will also follow process of registration, verification, mock vaccination and post-vaccine observation.

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