Vaccination dry run starts today. What is dry run?

A two-day dry run for coronavirus vaccine program starts today in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Assam.

The dry run is a program to validate the management of the vaccination. It is a trial run or dummy vaccination exercise of the programme without the actual vaccination. It assesses the readiness of the mechanism laid out for the elaborate COVID-19 vaccination The dry runs that include checks on cold storage and transportation arrangements, the preparedness of the personal etc. 

All the four states will report their observations to the centre recorded during the program. The government plans to cover 30 crore people in the first phase when it rolls out a vaccine for coronavirus. 

A total of 2,360 training sessions have been held so far, and 7,000 officials have been trained, including medical officers and vaccinators.

In Andhra Pradesh, the dry run that will take place in Krishna district is aimed at testing the planned operations and the laid-out mechanisms in the state, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar told reporters on Sunday.

"It will provide insights into any gaps or bottlenecks so that those could be addressed before the commencement of the actual drive," he was quoted as saying.

Across the four states, five sessions will be held at identified locations with 25 test pre-identified beneficiaries - healthcare workers - for each session. 

Feasibility of Co-WIN, an electronic application that identifies beneficiaries, and prerequisites for vaccine introduction as per operational guidelines will be assessed.

AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunisation) panels will be formed and treatment centres will also be identified if the vaccine triggers an adverse response in any of the beneficiaries.