Covid: Vaccination dry run ends successfully

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 29

The dry run for Covid vaccination ended successfully after covering 175 of the total over 30,000 identified beneficiaries here on Tuesday.

With no chinks or hiccups found in the system during the two-day mock drill exercise, Ludhiana was officially declared all set and ready for the massive immunisation drive roll-out against the ‘Chinese virus’ as soon as the vaccine arrives, anytime soon.

Dry run conducted at seven locations, says DC

Terming the entire system robust and expressing satisfaction over the 48-hour rigorous activity, which was undertaken to check the effectiveness and preparedness of systems and processes put in place, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the dry run was successfully conducted at seven locations (one in each subdivision) — Civil Hospital and Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana, Raikot, Jagraon, Machhiwara, Khanna and Payal.

He said on a trial basis, a total of 175 healthcare workers, comprising 25 at each location, who had registered themselves on the government portal, were called at the seven locations.

Ludhiana, which has assumed the dubious distinction of the Covid capital of Punjab with maximum count of infections and fatalities due to the virus, was among the two districts — the other being Nawanshahr — chosen by the state government for conducting the Covid vaccine dry run in the state.

Sharma said the mock drill activity was basically aimed at testing the laid-out mechanism for Covid vaccination roll-out in the system put in place for the purpose. He said during the dry run, the end-to-end testing of the Covid vaccination process was successfully tested.

The primary objective of the dry run included assessing the operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in the field environment and to test linkages between planning. Implementation and reporting mechanisms would identify challenges and guide way forward prior to the actual implementation.

The DC said in the first phase, over 30,000 healthcare workers (both government and private) of Ludhiana district, who have registered themselves on the government portal, would be administered the Covid vaccine, followed by anganwari workers, population aged above 50 years, people below 50 years with comorbidities and others.

He clarified that the vaccine would not be available off the shelf for the time being and only people, who have got themselves registered on the government portal, would be covered under it. He said upon registration, beneficiaries would receive an SMS informing the date and

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