We should be able to give Covid-19 vaccines to our countrymen soon: Vardhan

In the next few days, we should be able to give COVID-19 vaccines to our countrymen, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan after his visit to the session site in Government General Hospital in Chennai to review the second dry run for coronavirus vaccination on Friday.

"In a short time, India has done well by developing vaccines... In the next few days, in the near future, we should be able to give these vaccines to our countrymen. It will be given to our healthcare professional followed by frontline workers," the Minister said.

He added that the government has ensured that every detail regarding vaccination is conveyed to the people from the national level to the grassroots level.

"Lakhs of healthcare workers are being trained through these dry runs, and the process to train more is still going on," Dr Vardhan stated.

The Minister is on a visit to Tamil Nadu to oversee the dry run drill for vaccination. He is scheduled to visit Session Site at government Omandurar hospital in Chennai, vaccination centre at Apollo hospital in Chennai, and vaccination centre in Chengalpattu, Chennai.

The second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination is being held at three-session sites of 736 districts across 33 States/UTs today.

The dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system and to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment for planning, implementation, and reporting at the block, district, and state level.

According to the health ministry, the objective of the mock drill on COVID-19 vaccination is to simulate the actual vaccine administration event.

On Thursday, Dr Harsh Vardhan had directed all States/Union Territories to be vigilant against rumours and disinformation campaigns regarding the safety and efficacy of the approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Last week, the Drugs Controller General of India announced "restricted emergency use" for Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' and Serum Institute of India's 'Covishield', which has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

The earlier national mock drill on January 2 helped to iron out any glitches in the final execution and further refinement of the operational procedures. The feedback from most of the States/UTs was satisfactory conduct of the dry run.