India has planned a two-day dry run in four of its states to check the micro-level preparedness for a nationwide Covid-19 inoculation drive.
The states of Punjab in the north, Assam in the northeast, Andhra Pradesh in the south and Gujarat in the west will see the dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination drive on December 28-29, the Indian Health Ministry said on Friday.
Each state will carry out the dry run in two districts to check their preparedness in various types of medical settings such as district hospitals, rural and urban community health centres and private hospitals, reports UNB.
The dry run will focus on cold storage and transportation arrangements for the vaccine, crowd management at immunisation sites as well as dealing with any post-vaccination complications, according to the Ministry.
"This exercise will enable end-to-end mobilisation and testing of Covid vaccination process and check the usage of Co-WIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) in the field environment," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the government would start the vaccination drive in the next six to seven months.
The government of Punjab has welcomed the dry run ahead of the nationwide rollout of the vaccination drive. "It will provide insights on any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of immunisation," Health Minister Balbir Singh said.
The Indian government has already trained near 2,300 health professionals for the nationwide drive and started a Covid vaccination helpline. This is apart from the hundreds of health workers being trained by the Indian states.
The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of Covid-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended three prioritised population groups, including healthcare workers (around 100 million), frontline workers (around 100 million), and senior citizens for phase 1 of vaccination.
India's cumulative Covid case count now stands at over 100 million, with nearly 150,000 deaths.
