All States, UTs To Begin Covid Vaccine Dry Run On January 2

Health min releases communication strategy to support rollout

NEW DELHI: A dry run for COVID-19 vaccination will be conducted by all state and Union Territory administrations on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges, the Centre said on Thursday.

The activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least three session sites. Some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain/have poor logistical support, while Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities other than their capital, the Union Health Ministry said.

“The objective of the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to assess operational feasibility in the use of Co-WIN application in field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guideway forward prior to actual implementation. This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels,” the ministry said.

The Central government has also asked all states and UTs to ensure effective preparedness for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness at session sites for COVID19 vaccination with principal secretaries (Health) and other health administrators of all states and UTs through video-conferencing.