Covid-19 India LIVE: Multiple dry runs across states conducted successfully; states ready for vaccination rollout

In order to ensure that whenever vaccination is out for people, the process is smooth, a second dry run for vaccination programme was conducted on Saturday. Many states participated in it and have said that they are ready for vaccinating people against the novel Coronavirus.

Apart from Delhi, COVID-19 vaccine dry run has begun in many cities across India including Vishakhapatam, Bhopal, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, and Pune. Some hospitals have been selected in these cities and doctors and nurses are all geared to practise the vaccination drive. In Maharashtra, hospitals in four districts (across the state)- Pune, Nagpur, Nandurbar and Jalna are taking up the dry run. Each district has four vaccination centres with 25 people at one vaccination centre.

Similarly, Kerala too has organised a dry run today in four districts of the state. These districts include Idukki, Palakkad, Thirvananthapuram and Wayanad. This is the second dry run for the state and the drive took place between 9 am to 11 am today. State Health Minister K K Shailaja has noted that Kerala is all set for the smooth rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine for the health workers.

As far as Karnataka is concerned, the COVID-19 vaccine dry run has been carried out in five districts- Bengaluru, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, and Shivamogga. In Belagavi district, the government is conducting the dry run at Vantamuri urban PHC, Kittur community health centre as well as in the state-run general hospital at Hukkeri. Other mock exercises are being done at Ashok Nagar PHC, Jewargi taluk hospital and Aurad rural centre in Kalaburagi district, Jayanagar community health centre, Bilikere PHC and K.R. Nagar taluk hospital in Mysuru, McGann hospital and Antharagange PHC in Shivamogga district.

The dry vaccination run is also conducted in north-eastern state Manipur and a large number of health workers were given training to conduct the drive. Five health centres were chosen across Imphal west and Thoubal districts for dry run.

As many as 75 health workers became a part of the dry vaccination drive in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal. This has been the first dry run in the state for Covid-19 vaccine programme and it was conducted at three health centres in the state capital- L N Hospital, Gandhi Nagar community health centre (CHC) and Govindpura CHC.

In Tamil Nadu, the dry run for the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination conducted at 17 centres on Saturday. According to the state government, it (the dry run) was “successful” and a “learning experience” and showed that all preparations were in “ready mode” for the vaccine rollout. The dry runs were conducted at three centres each in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli districts and five centres in Coimbatore district. Nearly 2, 000 personnel were involved in the exercise which saw 510 participants, according to report by PTI.

On Saturday, Rajasthan too conducted dry run for Covid vaccination in seven districts. An official from the state health department said that the support staff for the inoculation were given training during the dry runs and “the state now is ready” for the vaccination, as reported by PTI.

Gujarat on Saturday conducted the second round of dry run for the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination. Nearly 300 people (all health workers) participated in the exercise which was carried out at several centres in four districts — Anand, Valsad, Dahod and Bhavnagar. The first round of dry run, which was conducted in Gandhinagar and Rajkot districts, was concluded on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, health officials and experts in India have given a go-ahead for a vaccine produced by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Later in the day, the government is also expected to approve the emergency use of indegenous vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech-ICMR. Once the approval for this is given, a mass vaccination drive can be initiated in the country.