India today carried out a nationwide Covid-19 vaccine trial as the country approaches to begin its massive rollout of Covid-19 vaccination to the general public.
The vaccine testing exercise took place amid news from the government panel of experts recommending emergency approval restricted to two Covid-19 vaccines that are manufactured in the country: Oxford-Astrzeneca Covid-19 Covishield vaccine. Produced locally by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s locally made Covaxin. .
The government said the final decision on the two vaccines will be made by the head of the Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO), who called a press conference on Sunday.
Regarding the trial exercise, the minister stated: “In a massive nationwide exercise today, an end-to-end drill was conducted on the administration of the vaccine in all states and UT in 286 session sites spread over 125 districts. “
Each district conducted the trial at three or more sites, which included a public health center (District Hospital / School of Medicine), a private health center, and rural or urban outreach sites.
All state and district officials were trained on the operational guidelines and for conducting the trial. This trial aimed to test the established mechanisms for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination in the healthcare system and to evaluate the operational feasibility of using the Co-WIN application in the field setting for planning, implementation and reporting. in the block, district and state. level. The trial was also conducted to familiarize state, district, bloc and hospital level officials on all aspects of COVID-19 implementation, he added.
The States and UT conducted the drill from 9:00 am throughout the country. The activities that start with the loading of beneficiary data, the assignment of the session site and micro planning, the assignment of vaccines, the management of the session site with the test beneficiaries, the notification mechanism, etc. ., were covered in this one-day test to run the closest possible simulation of the actual day. the ministry further stated.
Preparedness to handle any post-vaccination adverse event (AEFI) was also tested at all session sites and call center functionality. It was supervised by the District collectors.
This test ended with informational meetings at the district and state levels to discuss the problems and challenges encountered during the day. “The MoHFW was in constant contact with the States throughout the day to collect feedback on their experience. The States / UTs have expressed their complete satisfaction with the successful completion of the trial that included the operational process and its links to the Co-WIN software. , “the ministry said in a statement.
The Co-WIN software has been developed by MoHFW to obtain real-time information on vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and the individualized monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine beneficiaries. This software will assist program administrators at all levels through automatic session assignment for pre-enrolled recipients, verification, and a digital certificate will be generated upon successful completion of the vaccination schedule. More than 75 lakh beneficiaries have signed up for the Co-WIN software to date.
The cold chain infrastructure is sufficient to ensure COVID-19 vaccine delivery in the last mile in a temperature controlled environment across the country. A sufficient supply of syringes and other logistics has also been secured to begin the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Around 1,14,100 vaccinators have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites, which includes verification of beneficiaries, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, biomedical waste management, AE7FI management and uploading of information to the Co-WIN software.
All operational planning and IT platform have been field tested in four states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat on December 28 and 29, 2020 and based on feedback received. made minor improvements to the IT system.
Earlier today, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan called on people not to be fooled by “rumors” and misinformation campaigns about the safety and efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine, emphasizing that it is not will compromise any protocol while it is approved.
Vardhan, who visited two mock vaccination sites in Delhi to review the mock, said the free vaccine would be provided in the first phase of the inoculation campaign to the most prioritized recipients, including one crore from healthcare workers and two crore from workers from first line.
He added that the details of how priority recipients of 27 million rupees – those over 50 and those who have comorbidities – would be vaccinated until July.
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