India Carries Out COVID-19 Vaccine Dry Run Before Massive Roll Out

Government carries out pan India Covid-19 vaccine dry run in 116 districts.

Government carries out pan India dry run in 116 districts to check preparedness for COVID-19 vaccination drive. The Quint visit hospitals in multiple cities to find out more about the dry run. 

(Image: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Video Editors: Puneet Bhatia, Prashant Chauhan

A dry run was organised in 125 districts across the country on 2 January to check whether India was prepared to administer COVID-19 vaccine to nearly 30 crore people in the first priority group. The dry run was also to test preparedness and to plug loopholes, if any.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan visited Guru Teg Bahadur hospital (GTB) in Delhi to review the dry run. While interacting with media he assured that “safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of the vaccine shall never be compromised.”

He further cautioned against rumours, “everything has been checked in detail. Initially, when the polio vaccine was rolled out even then rumours had floated”.

The Quint visited several dry run sites across Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Patna and Hyderabad to understand how the vaccines will be rolled out in vaccine centers.

COVID vaccine dry run was carried out just to be sure that health care workers do not face any problem in administering it on people when the actually vaccination process will start.

<b>Dr Setu Sinha, Assistant Professor , IGIMS Patna</b>

Around 96,000 health care workers have been trained for the vaccination process.

Some seniors doctors at GTB hospital told The Quint that dry runs were conducted based on vaccine guidelines. Changes in the vaccination process will be made based on the feedback received from various centers.

What Happens At the Vaccine Center?

What do you need to do when you go to take vaccine?

STEP-1

An individual will first have to produce an ID proof, which could be Aadhaar card, Voter ID card, Passport, Driving Licence etc to register themselves. These details will be maintained in the Co-WIN app database.

STEP-2

Next, they wait in queue for their turn to get the vaccine. Arrangements have been made for maintaining physical distancing.

STEP-3

After the individual gets the vaccine, she/he will go to an observation room.

STEP-4

If the individual doesn't feel any uneasiness after taking the vaccine in the observation room, they can leave.

Health Ministry has said that the Co-WIN database will be a game changer. The database will help government in several ways:

• It will help the government track those who have got the vaccine.
• They'll track whether antibodies were formed over a period of time in an individual after 1 dose and before the 2nd dose is administered.
• They will also be able to monitor adverse events due to the vaccine

The first dry run was carried out on 28 and 29 December in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.