Covid-19 vaccine dry run worked well, Andhra Pradesh health officials announce

Andhra Pradesh health officials stated that the dry run conducted to test the Covid-19 vaccine process preparedness has “worked well.”

The dry run was carried out on Monday in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh with 125 prior identified health workers, 25 each at five designated health centres.

“95 per cent of the total identified beneficiaries (health workers) attended the process which got completed by 1 pm. All the processes of creating session sites, allotting beneficiaries and time slots as well as SMS communication to beneficiaries have worked well,” said Katamneni Bhaskar, Andhra Pradesh's health and family welfare commissioner.

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"The dry run was basically to test the planned operations and the laid out mechanisms for Covid-19 vaccination in the state. It will provide insights into any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the actual drive," Bhaskar said.

Andhra is the only south Indian state selected for the mock drill, while Punjab, Assam and Gujarat are the other three states selected for the dry run.

A report on the dry run listing the issues involved would be submitted to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare besides the State Task Force for necessary action.

The actual Covid-19 vaccine drive is expected to begin in the country in January. The central government is yet to finalize the vaccine for the Indian population.

The “end to end dry run” followed all the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare laid out vaccination procedures, guidelines and behaviors, albeit without any vaccine, to test the practical operability. It even included arrangements to address cases of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI).

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The exercise now was also intended to test a specially developed app named Co-WIN, to support and monitor the Covid-19 vaccination process.

Katamneni said that the “allocation of vaccine from store to session site was also working well. AEFI management was also working well.”

Feedback was taken from all the staff who participated in the dry run process at the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, Uppuluru PHC, Purna Heart institute, Penamaluru PHC and Prakash Nagar PHC.

A report from the state task force committee will be sent to New Delhi.