The State of Punjab has been selected by the Central Government to conduct the dry run of Covid-19 vaccine on December 28 and December 29, 2020. The Centre has selected four States to conduct the dry-run.
“The two districts of Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) have been selected as the two districts where the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine shall be carried out and five sights would be identified in each district,” said the state Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Thursday.
Sidhu said that the dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system.
“It will provide insights on any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the COVID-19 drive. The dry run is to be conducted in one or two districts, under the overall leadership of the District Collector or Magistrate,” he added.
The Minister said that immunization partners, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) at the state level, would support this activity.
All activities starting from beneficiary data upload, session site allocation (micro-planning), session site management (with test beneficiaries) to reporting and evening debriefing are to be covered in this two-day dry run to execute the nearest possible simulation of the actual day, he added.