Punjab to conduct dry run of COVID-19 vaccine in Patiala district on Saturday and Sunday

The Punjab Government will conduct a dry run of COVID-19 vaccination at Patiala district on Saturday and Sunday, state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said in Chandigarh on Friday.

The minister, in a communique, informed that following the guidelines of the Union government, Punjab has selected Patiala district where the dry run is to be conducted at Government Medical College Patiala, Sadhbhavna Hospital (Private Facility) and CHC Shatrana (Outreach session). The UNDP and the WHO shall be supporting the conduct of the dry run, he added.

The dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system which will provide insights on any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the actual vaccination drive. The test link of Co-WIN (www.uat.co-vin.in) has been made ready for the dry run, Sidhu said.

Talking about the features of the vaccination program, Sidhu said that Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is conducting nationwide multiple wide-age range injectable vaccination campaigns such as measles-rubella (MR) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) campaign (carried out in 35 endemic districts). However, for the first time, the programme will vaccinate pre-identified beneficiaries from specified groups supported by Co-WIN, an electronic application. The dry run will exercise end-to-end testing of COVID-19 vaccination process and will include various exercises such as planning and preparations including prerequisites for the vaccine introduction as per the Operational Guidelines Creation of Facilities and Users on COWIN application.

The Health Minister further said that the primary objective of the dry run was to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment and would test linkages between planning, implementation and reporting mechanisms to identify challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation. It would also provide confidence to programme managers at various levels.