Guwahati: A dry run of COVID-19 vaccination will be carried out in four states of the country, including Assam. The Centre will carry out the dry run on December 28 and 29. The states where the dry run of COVID-19 vaccination will be carried out are Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab.
This is carried out by the Centre to prepare the administration of various states for the vaccination drive and also, assess the readiness of the planned activities.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement that each of these four states will have to carry out the dry run in two different districts. It also said that it is preferable if the dry run is carried out in different session type settings, for example, CHC/PHC, urban site, district hospital, private health facility, rural outreach, and so on.
The official statement read, "This will also provide a hands-on experience to programme managers at various levels. This two-day activity is planned on 28th and 29th December, 2020 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 COVID-19 Vaccine, management of crowd at the session sites with proper physical distancing."
One of the prime focus of the dry run is the management of any possible adverse effect after the immunisation, said the Health ministry.
The statement further said that 2,360 training of trainers sessions have been organised. More than 7,000 district trainees have been trained during the national level Training of Trainers. These 7,000 trainees comprised of state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners, etc.