The two-day activity is scheduled for December 28 and 29.
A trial for the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine has been planned in four states of the country next week, according to a statement issued by the Union government on Friday. The four states include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab, and this is a preparatory step before actual distribution takes off. According to the Union Ministry of Health, each state will plan the drill in two districts and preferably in different session-type settings, for example, district hospitals, urban sites, private health facilities, etc.
The test will also provide hands-on experience for program managers at various levels. The two-day activity is planned for December 28 and 29 and will include cold storage testing and transportation arrangements for the COVID-19 vaccine and crowd management at the session sites with adequate physical distance.
“This exercise will enable end-to-end mobilization and testing of the COVID-19 vaccination process and will verify the use of the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) system in the field setting,” the ministry said in a statement. The government hopes the trial will identify challenges and guide the way forward before actual implementation.
An important focus of the trial will be on the management of any possible adverse event after immunization (AEFI). “The drill will include simultaneous monitoring and review at the block and district level and the preparation of comments to be shared with the state and the Union Ministry of Health. The Union Ministry of Health has prepared a detailed checklist to be he has shared with the four states to guide them in the drill, “the ministry added.
India has eight COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including three indigenous vaccines, in different stages of clinical trials that could be ready for authorization in the near future. It includes Covishield developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), Covaxin from Bharat Biotech Limited, ZyCoV-D from Zydus Cadila, and the Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik-V.
The Union government is preparing to launch a COVID-19 vaccine across the country. Since vaccine administrators will play an important role in the vaccination process, training of those who will administer the vaccine has begun in several states.
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