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Vials of AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine are seen prior to packaging inside a laboratory at the Serum Institute of India, Pune, India on November 30, 2020.
Image Credit: Reuters
New Delhi: After the successful completion of the coronavirus vaccination trial in four states, a similar mega drill will be conducted across all states and territories of the Union of India on January 2.
This is aimed at equipping the entire administration and management of vaccine supply, storage and logistics, including cold chain management, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
The activity is proposed to take place in all state capitals at at least three session sites. Some states will also include districts that are located in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support.
Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the drill in major cities other than their capital.
“The aim of the trial for the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine is to assess the operational feasibility in using the Co-WIN application in the field setting, test the links between planning and implementation, and identify challenges and guide the way to go before implementation ”, added the ministry.
Test beneficiaries
For each of the three session sites, the responsible physician in question will identify 25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers). States and UTs have been asked to ensure that the data of these beneficiaries is uploaded to Co-WIN.
These beneficiaries will also be available on the session site for the drill. States and UTs have also been asked to prepare the facilities and users to be created in the CoWIN app, including uploading the Health Care Worker (HCW) beneficiary data.
States and UTs have been ordered to ensure physical verification of all proposed sites to determine the adequacy of space, logistical arrangements, Internet connectivity, electricity, and security.
They have been asked to prepare at least three model session sites in each state for the demonstration, ensuring that the model sites have separate entrances and exits in a ‘three-room setup’ with adequate space outside for activities. For awareness raising, display all IEC material on these sites.
Since vaccine administrators will play an important role in the vaccination process, several states have begun to train trainers and those who should administer the vaccine. Some 96,000 vaccinators have been trained for this purpose.
Approximately 2,360 participants have been trained in National Training of Trainers and more than 57,000 participants trained in training at the district level in 719 districts. States are expanding state helpline 104, to be used in addition to 1075, for any questions related to vaccines and software.
Orientation and training of Call Center executives in the States and UT has been carried out. States were also encouraged to use the FAQs issued by the Ministry of Health proactively to address any such queries.
Management of adverse events
An important focus of the trial will be on the management of any possible adverse event post-immunization (AEFI). In addition, compliance and management of infection control practices will also be carried out at the session site, to prevent disease transmission.
The drill will include simultaneous monitoring and review at the block and district level, and comment preparation. The State Task Force will review the comments and share them with the Union Ministry of Health.
On December 28 and 29, a COVID-19 vaccination test was conducted in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Rajkot and Gandhinagar district of Gujarat, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar of Punjab and Sonitpur districts and Nalbari of Assam.
After a year of an unprecedented global health crisis, many are anticipating the coronavirus vaccine as India prepares for the inoculation campaign, which will likely begin in January 2021.
The central government plans to vaccinate almost 30 million people in the first phase of the campaign. It will be offered to 10 million healthcare workers, along with 20 million frontline and essential workers and 270 million elderly, mostly older than 50 years with comorbidities.
India currently 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. Serum Institute-Oxford’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Pfizer are in the fray for emergency use authorization.
