Centre gears up to roll-out COVID-19 vaccine; dry run in 4 states next week

The Centre is gearing up for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine across the country. As per the release by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the vaccine administrators will play an important role in the process and thus the training process has been initiated.

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In order to strengthen the capacity of our human resource for Coronavirus vaccine introduction and roll-out, detailed training modules have been developed for different categories of vaccine handlers and administrators including medical officers, vaccinations, alternate vaccinators, cold chain handlers, data managers, ASHA coordinators and all other involved in the implementation process at different levels.

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Centre: Govt gearing up to roll-out COVID-19 vaccine

The release by the Health Ministry mentioned that the training will include all operational aspects of training as the organisation of vaccination sessions, use of Co-WIN IT platform for the management of the entire vaccination process, deployment of HR Cold Chain preparedness, Management of adverse events, communications and intersectoral, biomedical waste management, etc. 

In total 2,360 participants have been trained during national level Training which included state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners, etc. In a bid to facilitate redressal of queries on Coronavirus vaccination and Co-WIN portal related queries, national 1075 and state 104 Helpline capacity has also been strengthened to addresses queries beyond their routine support. 

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Dry run for vaccine administration in 4 states next week

The release from the Health Ministry read, "As a step to prep up for the administration of COVID-19 vaccine, and to assess the readiness of the planned activities, a dry run has been planned in 4 states to start with, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Punjab considering the geographical locations. Each State will plan it in two districts and preferably in different (five) session type settings e.g. district hospital, CHC/PHC, urban site, private health facility, rural outreach etc."

An important focus of the dry run will be on the management of any possible adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). In addition, adherence and management of infection control practices at the session site, to prevent disease transmission. The mock drill will include concurrent monitoring and review at the block and district levels, and preparation of feedback to be shared with the State and Union Health Ministry. Detailed checklist has been prepared by the Union Health Ministry and shared with the 4 States to guide them in the dry run. 

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