Covid-19 vaccination dry run goes smoothly in Gurugram

To gear up for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, a dry run was held across six session sites in Gurugram on Thursday. From verification of the beneficiary to mock vaccination

To gear up for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, a dry run was held across six session sites in Gurugram on Thursday. From verification of the beneficiary to mock vaccination and feeding realtime data on the Co-WIN platform, the demonstration, according to the health officials, was held successfully.

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Health workers, deployed as vaccinators and vaccination officers, however, said that despite a successful run, crowd management and realtime data management would be crucial when the vaccination starts, as 100 beneficiaries will have to be covered in a day.

Thursday’s dry run included 25 participants — comprising health workers, lab technicians or pharmacists — at each site. It covered both urban and rural areas to assess the management before the vaccination starts in the next few days.

At five of the six sites — Daulatabad, Chauma, Tigra, Wazirabad and Basai Enclave — the demonstration was arranged at government primary schools. In Bhangrola, which is located almost 20 kilometres from urban Gurugram, the drive was held at a primary health centre.

A queue of about five to 10 participants was seen outside the vaccination booths at Bhangrola and Wazirabad. Based on the designated time slots, participants arrived at the site and were allowed to enter the vaccination room, one at a time, after the verification at the registration desk and Co-WIN platform.

Neelam Rai, Auxiliary Nurse Midwife-cum-vaccinator at Bhangrola, who has an experience of almost 20 years in immunisation, said, “As part of the demonstration, we have kept a tetanus vial. But as informed during our training session, for the Covid-19 vaccine, the beneficiary will get a 0.5 ml dose through intramuscular injection. It is no different from the vaccine jab for other diseases.”

A major challenge that officials will face when vaccination starts is realtime data management. Unlike routine immunisation, only registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated for Covid-19, which would require constant data update on the dedicated portal.

“In the normal immunisation drives, there is no challenge of doing everything online simultaneously. Data is fed into the system later, while for Covid-19 vaccine, everything is online. Any delay or technical glitch can delay the entire process, especially when the beneficiary count will increase,” said Neelam, a vaccinator and an ANM at the Wazirabad site.

During Thursday’s dry run, the health team, however, did not face any technical glitch, according to senior health officials. Representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Roderico Ofrin, the regional emergencies director of World Health Organisation and his team, while inspecting the session sites, observed the functioning of Co-WIN.

“Throughout the dry run, from 11am to 1pm, there were no technical glitches. Even WHO asked us to feed the realtime data of a beneficiary having adverse effects following immunisation (AEFI). The preliminary case investigation report has to be approved and fed on Co-WIN for the state to have its access. It was done at the spot today without any difficulty,” said Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer.

In preparing the model session sites, AEFI rooms were also set up. However, the observation rooms, where beneficiaries will have to wait for 30 minutes after vaccination, had a seating capacity for only six people at the sites. Singh said that seating will be increased on the day of vaccination.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said that crowd management at the entrance and in the waiting areas will be crucial.

“There is a schedule every beneficiary will receive which is for crowd management from entry to exit at the vaccination site. All the operational guidelines are being followed in the dry run. It is a whole lot of work. Considering the preparedness, they are ready for the vaccination day,” said Ofrin, while inspecting the dry run at the Bhangrola site.

Although all beneficiaries are supposed to receive text messages upon receiving a shot, not all health workers received messages during Thursday’s dry run. Officials said that the medical officers concerned received the messages during the dry run, but it will be transmitted to beneficiaries during the vaccination process.