Delhi Health Minister to attend Covid vaccine dry run program today

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain will attend the vaccine trial program (Dry Run) conducted by the Union Health Ministry at the Maternity ND Child Welfare (MCW) centre in Daryaganj here at 10 am on Saturday.

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.

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 field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation". This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels, it said.

The activity is proposed to be conducted in all State Capitals in at least 3 session sites.

Some States will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain/have poor logistical support. Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities other than their Capital.

In Delhi, the drive will be conducted at three locations - the Daryaganj primary health centre, the government-run Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, and the private Venkateshwara hospital.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness at session sites across the country for COVID-19 vaccination trial run on Saturday and said just like preparations during elections, each member of medical teams should be trained responsibly.

The minister urged every official to ensure that the vaccination sites and officials in-charge abide by the detailed checklist and Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) for vaccination that has been prepared by the Union Health Ministry.

Referring to Pulse Polio drive in Delhi in 1994, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that as the exercise of vaccination is integrally based on interaction and involvement of people, relevant stakeholders, NGOs and Civil Society Organization (CSOs) need to be mobilised.

(ANI)

Also Read: Coronavirus Pandemic: Dry run for COVID-19 vaccination across India to begin today