GURUGRAM: Ahead of the Covid
vaccine rollout, various centres across the city conducted an inoculation
dry run on Thursday without any glitches. The district is likely to get the
Covishield vaccine for 36,105
healthcare workers soon.
The drill was done to check the efficiency of teams in handling a crowd, managing vaccine supply, storage and logistics, including cold chain management and
CoWIN system.
The vaccine will be transported from the district cold store point in Pataudi to the 37 cold chain points across the district. There are 659 cold chain points and 22 vaccine vans (insulated) for transporting vaccines across the state. Notably, Gurgaon has received 2,12,093 syringes of 0.5 ml AD for the
vaccination process.
TOI visited some of the vaccinations sites and found that people who were registered for the drill were confident about the vaccine and claimed to be excited to be part of the first dry run in the city.
Of the 150 beneficiaries who were registered, 147 turned up for the dry run. Dr Ajitesh (41), the first ‘dummy beneficiary’ for the dry run in Gurgaon said: “We have worked very hard so far to curb the infection and to treat patients. I think this vaccine will be safe and a way forward.”
In terms of arrangements at the centres, the participants were made to stand on foot-mark stickers and social distancing norms were strictly followed. Besides, preparations were made for drinking water and toilets. “The beneficiaries started coming in at 11am. They had received a text to visit the centre for the dry run. They were also informed by the health department regarding the second dose,” said Dr Shalu, who was supervising the dry run. The drill went on till 1pm.
Suman Saini (45), a pharmacist who was waiting in a queue for her turn, said: “We have been preparing for the dry run for a week. There is no confusion now. There might be some side-effects, but that is true for any vaccine.”
Geeta Sharma (45), a lab assistant, said, “I am confident that the vaccine is beneficial for all. We have seen many critical days last year that this vaccine is our only hope now.”
In terms of process, the participants were first registered and verified on CoWIN app. Their
Aadhaar cards were scanned by the vaccinators for validation in the CoWIN system. They were informed about the vaccine before the dummy inoculation. They were also ‘observed’ after the dummy vaccine shots.
The six centres in the city are: Community Centre in Sector 56, Government Senior Secondary School in Daultabad,
Government Primary School in Wazirabad, two government schools in Chauma and Basai Enclave, and the primary health care centre in Bhangrola.
The health department said the process was smooth and there were no glitches. “It was a successful dry run. We deployed two police officers to manage the crowd. We also set up a help desk at each site. There was a room too with three beds for any adverse effect of the vaccination,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
Meanwhile, the city reported less than 100 new cases for the thirteenth day in a row. It witnessed 82 fresh cases, which took the tally to 57,264. The health department said 104 patients recovered on the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 56,048. One person had succumbed to the infection on Thursday. So far, 346 people in the city have died of Covid, of whom 268 had comorbidities.
The city has a total of 766 active cases, and 688 of the patients are in home isolation. The recovery rate stands at 97.7%. The positivity of Gurgaon is at 2% at present.