Dry Run Of COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Successfully Conducted In AP

VIJAYAWADA: The Krishna district administration successfully conducted a dry run of the COVID-19 vaccination programme on Monday, where various exercises that go into the actual event were carried out at Purna Heart Institute Hospital

Krishna district Collector A Md Imtiyaz, who inaugurated the dry run at the urban primary health centre at Prakash Nagar in Vijayawada, said the (dummy) vaccine was transported from the central storage facility to cold chain points at various places.

The dry run was carried out in five locations with 25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers) for each session.

"We have recorded this in the Co-WIN App and sent SMSes to the chosen patients. We have monitored the time taken for different processes and the logistics involved. This will be used in real-time simulation", the Collector told reporters.

All primary health centres, hospitals, educational institutions, and village secretariats would be made vaccination centres once the actual begins, he added.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the four states chosen by the Centre to carry out end-to-end dry run for Covid-19 vaccination on December 28.

The state government picked Krishna district for the dry run, where it was carried out in five locations.

"The dry run was basically to test the planned operations and the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination in the state. It will provide insights into any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the actual drive," state Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar said.

A report on the dry run listing the issues involved would be submitted to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare besides the State Task Force for necessary action.

The dry run also started at the Primary Health Centre at Thadigadapa and Uppuluru where officials set up vaccinations for 50 people as part of a mock drill. Awareness was provided to the staff of the Medical Health, Sanitary and Secretariat about  the dry run. The drill operations were overseen by COVID Special Officer Vinod Kumar at the Centres.