The Centre to start vaccine dry run from January 2

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will start a vaccine dry run from January 2 to assess the preparedness for mass vaccination in the country.

The government wants to see the challenging areas between planning and its implementation on the ground level.

It has developed a mobile application Co-WIN to register vaccine delivery and its beneficiaries so that the whole vaccine delivery system runs in a smooth manner.

The dry run will assess the operational feasibility of the Co-WIN app in the field condition. The dry run will also identify areas where special attention is needed to be given.

“The activity is proposed to be conducted in all State Capitals in at least 3 session sites,” the Health Ministry said in a press release.

It added, “Some States will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain/have poor logistical support.”

Two states - Maharashtra and Kerala – may carry out this exercise in other major cities along with their state capitals.

The Centre in collaboration with the state governments has trained 96,000 vaccinators.

It has also provided training to 2,360 participants in National Training of Trainers and over 57,000 participants have been trained in District level training in 719 districts.

“An important focus of the dry run will be on the management of any possible adverse events following immunisation (AEFI),” the Ministry said.

Two helpline – 104 in states and 1075 at the central level – will work and provide assistance to queries related to vaccines and the software.

Earlier, the government had conducted a dry run in five states on December 28 and 29 in two districts each and it didn’t face any major operational challenges.