AHMEDABAD: Dry run for Covid vaccination in 28 districts and five municipal corporations was carried out by the health department on Tuesday, the third such exercise held in Gujarat. AMC-run hospitals were part of the exercise.
The exercise, which was held to assess the readiness of the mechanism laid out for the Covid-19 immunisation drive, was earlier carried out in five districts and three municipal corporations.
While two of the vaccines have been given nod for emergency use, the state is yet to receive stock for vaccination. Four centres in Sanand, Sanathal and Telav had been identified for the run, said Dr Shilpa Yadav, chief district health officer (Ahmedabad). “We checked if messages had been sent to registered healthcare workers, along with the logistics of storing and transporting vaccine from the designated facility. The exercise was satisfactory,” she said.
District Collector Sandip Sangle and DDO Arun Mahesh Babu also inspected the preparations.
At Civil Hospital campus in Ahmedabad, 25 health workers were chosen for the mock vaccination. Officials involved in the process said it takes about 40 minutes for one recipient to complete the process – about 10 minutes for identification and registration, and 30 minutes for follow-up.
Dr JP Modi, medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, said that about 7,000 from the campus have been identified for the first round of vaccination.
“Multiple runs of mock Covid vaccination will prepare the staff for any eventuality. From storage chain management to software update, it will help in identifying and rectifying issues that can arise when vaccine stock is available,” said Dr Nayan Jani, chief vaccination officer of Gujarat. “So far, we have not encountered any major issue.”