JOIN USDry run for Covid-19 vaccination to be conducted in Andhra's Krishna district on December 28
The dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination process would be conducted at five medical centers in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on 125 health workers, on Monday.
The exercise is in preparation for the central government's plan to roll out the Covid-19 vaccination for the public beginning with health and other frontline workers, in January.
Andhra is the only south Indian state selected for the mock drill, while Punjab, Assam, and Gujarat are the other three states where also it would be held on 28 and 29 December.
The government is yet to decide on the specific vaccine to vaccinate the population, but reports suggest that Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine is the current favorite. The homegrown candidate – Covaxin – of Bharat Biotech and ICMR is still in Phase-3 trials.
The “end to end dry run” now would follow all the set protocols, except that there would not be any vaccine, Katamaneni Bhaskar, Andhra Pradesh health commissioner tells DH.
“The dry run is aimed at testing the planned operations and laid out mechanisms. It will help us identify any gaps/bottlenecks so that the same could be addressed before the actual Covid- l9 vaccine drive,” Bhaskar said.
The entire process is supported and monitored by an app named Co-WIN, whose operational feasibility would be tested on the field.
The dry run is planned to be held in one district hospital/medical college, one Community/Primary Health Centre, one private hospital, and one centre each to test the urban and rural outreach.
Accordingly, in the Krishna district, the dry run would take place at the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, Uppuluru PHC, Purna Heart institute, Penamaluru PHC, and Prakash Nagar PHC.
25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers) are identified for the dry run, for each of the five-session sites. These beneficiaries will undergo the site simulation on Monday morning. Tuesday is set for review.
Flowchart of vaccine administration at the centre, akin to a polling booth:
25 beneficiaries visit planned in a two-hour slot at each session site i.e. about five minutes for each:
Vaccinating Officer-1 checks the beneficiary named on the list
VO-2: Verifies beneficiary name using the Co-WIN application
VO-2: To conduct vaccination (dummy on Monday) and report it on Co-WIN
VO-3 & 4: To manage crowd, inter-process communication, messaging, and ensuring the 30-minute stay back of the person for post-vaccination observation
VO-2: To report 2-3 dummy Adverse Events Following Immunization on Co-WIN
AEFI treatment centres are also identified. The dry run would be filmed. A review report from the state task force committee will be sent to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.