Covid-19 vaccine dry run: Know why is this being done, who all will participate and where will the activity take place

A dry run is essentially a practice session where a sample number of beneficiaries will go through a mock immunisation process. Here`s all you need to known about the COVID-19 dry run.

NEW DELHI: With the objective to gear up for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine across the country, the dry run will be conducted by all the States and UT governments from Saturday.

What is a dry run

A dry run is essentially a practice session where a sample number of beneficiaries will go through a mock immunisation process.

Who will participate in the dry run?

Apart from the staff of the designated COVID-19 vaccination centres, the dry run will see the participation of a select group of health care workers as test vaccine beneficiaries. Each centre will identify 25 test beneficiaries for the dry run.

What is the objective of the dry run?

According to Union Health Ministry, the objective of the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to "assess operational feasibility in the use of COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in a field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation". 

What will it achieve?

The aim of the dry run is to test linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges. The dry run will also test Co-WIN application, developed specifically for Covid-19 vaccine drive, in a field environment. The activity is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels, the Health Ministry said.

Who all will participate

According to the Health Ministry, around 96,000 vaccinators have been trained for this purpose. 2,360 participants have been trained in the National Training of Trainers and over 57,000 participants trained in District level training in 719 districts. States are augmenting the State helpline 104 (which shall be used in addition to 1075) for any vaccine/software related query. Orientation and capacity building of the Call Centre executives has taken place in the States/UTs. States were also encouraged to use the FAQs issued by the Health Ministry proactively to address any such query.

Where will dry run be conducted?

The Saturday dry run will be conducted across all states and UTs. Each state/UT has been asked to conduct the dry run at minimum of three session sites in their capitals. Some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain/have poor logistical support.

Major dry run centres announced by state & UTs:

Delhi: Venkateshwara Hospital in South West district; Daryaganj dispensary in Central district; and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Shahdara

Jharkhand: Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Chatra, Palamu and Pakur

Uttar Pradesh: Sahara Hospital, RML Hospital, King George's Medical University and SGPGI as well one centre each in Mall block and Malihabad block in Lucknow

Jammu and Kashmir: UT administration has identified 9 hospitals in 3 districts Jammu, Srinagar and Kulgam

Gujarat: Dahod, Bhavnagar, Valsad and Anand districts

Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Wayanad and Palakkad districts

Punjab: The state is conducting dry run in Patiala. Three identified sites are: Government Medical College; Sadhbhavna Hospital; and the Community Health Centre in Shatrana.

Haryana: Here the dry run will be held in three health care centres in Panchkula.

Karnataka: The dry run will be conducted at Kamakshipalya Urban PHC (West Zone), Vidyapeetha Urban Primary Health Centre (South Zone), and Hargade PHC in Anekal that comes under the Bangalore Urban district.