Covid-19 vax: India witnesses dry run to test systems

New Delhi, Jan 2 : As India gears up to launch the world’s largest immunisation drive, almost all states and Union Territory (UT) governments, including the national capital, conducted a dry run on Saturday to assess their ability and readiness to administer Covid-19 shots to hundreds of millions of people, including many in remote corners of the country.
On the Centre’s directive, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana along with Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat were among many states and UTs who conducted a dry run for Covid-19 vaccination earlier in the day, aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for the vaccination roll-out in the health system.
The Centre had directed earlier to conduct a dry run by all state and UTs on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation, and to identify the challenges.
As per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, all states selected their particular areas and districts to hold the dry run exercise at various government medical college, hospitals, medical centres and the community health centres.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Health Organization (WHO), officials said, supported the drive.
In the drive, the medical officer in-charge identified several beneficiaries (healthcare workers).