Dry run at the railway hospital in Paharganj. (Photo: Praveen Khanna) The third round of the Covid-19 vaccination dry run, held in the capital’s four districts on Friday, saw improved coordination among teams, but not without some minor glitches.
Around 25 beneficiaries were called in each session site to carry out the immunisation programme.
The first dry run for the Covid-19 vaccination rollout was held in Delhi on January 2 at three sites — GTB Hospital, Shahdara; the Urban Primary Health Centre, Darya Ganj; and the Venkateshwar Hospital, Dwarka.
At the Delhi government’s Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital, calls were made to all listed beneficiaries on Thursday evening.
“A message was sent to all the 25 beneficiaries and around 17 of them reached the session site on Friday. It was a smooth process as we have already been training our healthcare staff for the last few weeks,” said Dr Pankaj Kumar, nodal officer of the Covid-19 vaccination centre at the hospital.
The process was equally smooth at east Delhi’s Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI). Following social distancing and other Covid norms, the beneficiaries waited outside the centre as the vaccinating officer called out their names. A police officer was also seated at the gate to verify details of registered people.
“The IDs of all the beneficiaries are being checked at the vaccination room. There are eight seats in the observation room where the beneficiaries will wait for at least 30 minutes to see if there are any reactions to the vaccine,” said Dr Pragya Shukla, nodal officer of Covid-19 at the institute.
However, some centres reported minor issues while carrying out the exercise. A senior district official from New Delhi district, where the dry run was held at 10 sites, said, “There were some issues while using the Co-WIN app but we are working on it. Since the dry run was held at government and private hospitals, we could easily coordinate with healthcare workers.”
In the southeast district, the exercise was carried out at 19 session sites. The district has identified 72 sites for the final vaccination programme in the first phase. “Primarily, there were small issues and we have sent feedback to the state health department. Overall, the entire exercise was fairly successful. Special emphasis was given on the mock drill for reporting of AEFI (adverse event following immunisation) and emergency situation.”
According to top officials in the state health department, the city is expected to start the vaccination programme in the coming week.