Madhya Pradesh: Covid-19 vaccine dry run carried out on 75 health workers

Nearly 75 health workers underwent dummy vaccination at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday as part of the first dry run of COVID-19 vaccine programme in the state, an official said.

The mock vaccination programme was conducted at three health centres in the state capital- Gandhi Nagar community health centre (CHC), Govindpura CHC and L N Hospital, he said.

As part of the process, SMSs were sent to the health workers, in which they were asked to come to these health facilities, he added.

"After the dummy vaccination shots were given to them, these health workers were asked to wait for 30 minutes at the centres so that they are kept under observation, like in the actual vaccination plan," the official said.

According to him, when the actual COVID-19 vaccination programme is rolled out, a person who is administered the vaccine, will have to wait for 30 minutes for observation by the health authorities.

In case that person feels uneasy or experiences some complications, he or she would be treated, he said.

"Everything went as per the plan during the dry run. The dummy vaccines had been sent to the three health facilities in time and smoothly via cold chain," the official added.

He claimed that as per the plan, 20,000 to 25,000 coronavirus warriors would first receive the vaccine when the inoculation process begins in Madhya Pradesh.

The Union Health Ministry had earlier said that the dry run for COVID-19 vaccination is being conducted by all state and union territory administrations on Saturday to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges.

It had said that the objective of the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to assess the 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 guide way forward prior to actual implementation.

The dry run will also equip the state and UT administration in management of vaccine supply, storage and logistics including cold chain management, it had said.

On Friday, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, paving the way for the roll-out of the first COVID-19 shot in the country in the next few days.