Lucknow will initiate the dry run of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, as stated by the Uttar Pradesh Principal Health Secretary on January 1. This dry-run will be a practice session, that will test the feasibility of the state established transport and distribution of the vaccine vials, along with the immunisation process. This mock drive will be monitored on the state level and the results will be shared across all districts in an attempt to overcome any loopholes and glitches.
Lucknow undertakes massive drive to check the viability of COVID-19 vaccination
Ahead of the arrival of the authentic COVID-19 vaccine shots in Uttar Pradesh, about 6 centres in Lucknow will conduct a mock drill in the city, using dummy vials, to test the state’s vaccine distribution and implementation system. This list includes SGPGI, KGMU, RMLIMS, a private hospital in Gomti Nagar, and community centres in Mal and Malihabad. The day-long drive will begin when vaccine carriers will carry the shots through the cold chain corridor, from the Aishbagh storage unit to immunisation centres. Healthcare workers at these centres will then unload the dummy vials, from the vans, and place them safely in the designated inoculation rooms.
The agenda of this dry run is to check preparedness of the city and state to implement the actual COVID-19 vaccination drive without any glitches, stated the district immunisation officer. The operational accuracy of the vaccine intelligence network, CoWIN application, will also be tested, in a field environment.
According to the drive layout, each vaccination centre will have 3 rooms, which will protocol the immunisation process. The beneficiaries will enter through the first room, where their ID and other personal details will be checked. After clearing this, the recipients will be sent to the second room, where the vaccine will be administered. The last room has been set up as a waiting lounge, where all beneficiaries will be spending 25 minutes post the injection has been injected.
Attention to details will help plug loopholes
As per reports, each centre will recognise 25 volunteers who will act as vaccine beneficiaries. This will help the state to identify the mechanisms, the time taken to vaccinate each individual and identify the possible gaps in the immunisation process. The dry run will essentially help to reveal any adverse events, which will be trouble-shot to implement a smooth vaccination drive later.
The Union Health Minister has also stated that carrying this practice session like the real drive and attention to detail will assist to remove all inconsistencies, creating a system which has zero to no lose ends.
