'TN govt deserves highest appreciation': Harsh Vardhan after reviewing vaccine dry run

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday visited Chennai to review preparedness and oversee mock vaccination drill as India began its second nation-wide dry run for a vaccine against COVID-19. During his visit, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Tamil Nadu government and the state health department deserve the highest appreciation for good work that they have been doing to combat coronavirus.

"I sincerely appreciate the exemplary work done by the Tamil Nadu government in collaboration with the Centre in fighting COVID-19. Tamil Nadu government and its health department deserve our highest appreciation for good work that they have been doing and are pursuing," Vardhan said while addressing media.

The Union Health Minister met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamy besides visiting the Session Site in Government General Hospital and Session Site at government Omandurar hospital to oversee the dry run of the vaccination, during his visit to Chennai. He also inspected cold storage for COVID-19 vaccine in the city during his visit.

"Sincerely appreciate the exemplary work done by the Govt of TN in collaboration with the centre in fighting COVID-19. They have done well to contain the spread of the virus," he said in another tweet.

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Second nationwide dry run on Coronavirus vaccination

The Central Government on Friday launched the second nationwide dry run of vaccine inoculation, with the massive mock drill held in 736 districts across 33 States and Union territories, according to the information shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The objective of the dry run is to simulate the actual vaccine administration event and to eliminate glitches or bottlenecks if any in the vaccine inoculation process.

The first nationwide dry run of the vaccination process was conducted on January 2 to test the mechanism laid out for the COVID-19 immunisation drive, which is expected to begin soon. The first major run-through was held on December 28 and 29 where the Centre conducted vaccination drive in four states, namely - Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.  The government also said that it is ready to introduce the COVID-19 vaccine within 10 days from the date of emergency use authorisation. The DCGI has given the green signal for restricted emergency use approval to the two vaccines on January 3.

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