Additional suggestions about the IT platform were also noted for further enhancement of the Co-WIN platform
Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has successfully conducted a two-day dry run of the COVID-19 vaccination process in four states: Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat on December 28 and 29.
Backed with the experience of rolling out the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and conducting nationwide multiple wide-range injectable vaccination campaigns such as measles-rubella (MR) and adult Japanese Encephalitis (JE) campaign, a health ministry release indicated that the required steps are being undertaken to vaccinate priority population groups such as health care workers, frontline workers and people above 50 years for COVID-19.
The two-day end-to-end dry run was undertaken in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, Rajkot and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) in Punjab and Sonitpur and Nalbari districts in Assam.
Specific teams were formed for various tasks by the district administration and activities like uploading of dummy beneficiary’s data, session site creation, vaccine allocation, communication vaccination details to vaccinators and beneficiaries, beneficiary mobilisation were carried out.
Field feedback on the first day of the dry run was reviewed on December 29, 2020 via a video conferencing with state and district programme officers by Joint Secretary (Public Health). All states expressed satisfaction in terms of the operational approach and use of IT platform to ensure transparency and effective monitoring of vaccination processes expected to cover numerous people across the country. Additional suggestions about the IT platform were also noted for further enhancement of the Co-WIN platform.
The health ministry hopes that detailed insights and feedback obtained from the two-day dry run will help enrich the operational guidelines and IT platform and strengthen the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination plan.
The dry run exercise was aimed at an end-to-end testing of the COVID-19 vaccination process and included planning and preparations as per the Operational Guidelines; creation of facilities and users on Co-WIN application, creation of session site and mapping of sites, data upload of Health Care Workers (HCW) , receipt of vaccines and vaccine allocation by the district, session planning, deployment of vaccination team, logistics mobilisation at session site, mock drill of conducting vaccination and reporting and review meetings at block, districts and state level. The objective of the dry run is also to undertake and confirm field implementation of IT platform Co-WIN and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation.
As per a health ministry release, the District Collector with engagement of district and block task force were made responsible for conducting the dry run, and it was expected to provide insights on any gaps or bottle-necks during the actual vaccination process.