Noida: Covid vaccine dry run exposes glitches

The Covid-19 vaccination dry run at six hospitals in Gautam Budh Nagar on Tuesday threw up glitches in the protocols that officials say would be fixed before the

The Covid-19 vaccination dry run at six hospitals in Gautam Budh Nagar on Tuesday threw up glitches in the protocols that officials say would be fixed before the actual vaccination drive expected soon.

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Apart from patchy internet connectivity, the district also discovered wrong phone numbers and realised the importance of offering an option to change time slots for the shot.

Six hospitals– Child PGI, Sharda Hospital, Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), public health centre (PHC) in Bisrakh and the community health centres (CHCs) in Bisrakh and Bhangel – were picked for the drill.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY visited the vaccination centres at Child PGI and CHC Bhangel during drill termed it as a success.

”The internet connectivity with the state portal (Co-Win) was an issue, but it was sorted out soon. I’ve asked the health officials to give full details of the vaccination process before inoculating them,” he said.

Co-Win is a mobile application that has details of the beneficiaries of the vaccination drive. While at first it will contain details of only those who will be included in the first few phases, people can later get themselves registered on it when the government is ready to bring out the vaccine to the public.

The vaccine, when it is rolled out, will be distributed in phases. The first phase will involve health care workers who are most at risk of infection.

District chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Deepak Ohri said that 50 “practice beneficiaries” were asked to arrive at each site via SMS during two separate sessions.

“All the centres saw full participation. The drill also threw up a few technical glitches such as wrong phone numbers and a missing option to change time slots if a person cannot make it to a site,” he said. The district administration will seek three-level verification of beneficiaries -- at block level, sub-divisional level and district level -- to ensure proper phone numbers and offer them the chance to change time at each of these levels.

One health worker at PHC Bisrakh said that the internet connectivity was an issue in the beginning. “It was rectified within half an hour. Since Co-Win App is a key component of Covid-19 vaccination, the system needs a steady internet connection to upload the details of beneficiaries and their dosages,” he said.

Dr (Brig) Rakesh Gupta, the director of GIMS, said that the beneficiaries were mock vaccinated between 10 am and noon. “A team of six was involved in each session. We had made arrangements to hold 50 people at the waiting area, a vaccination room and an observation area (to check for adverse reactions), besides two dedicated beds with a doctor and nurses for any emergency,” he said.

Dr (Major) BP Singh of Child PGI said that the drill saw beneficiaries requiring to identify themselves with their government approved ID card at entry. “After verification, they were mock vaccinated in a separate room. All beneficiaries were observed for at least 30 minutes after the mock vaccination,” he said.

At Sharda hospital, the dry runs for vaccinations were conducted in five rooms. Joint registrar of Sharda University Ajit Kumar said, “Workshops were also organised to ensure that the dry run was done correctly with few mistakes. From cold chain to the movement of storage and vaccine, real-time information was being monitored,” he said.

District immunisation officer Dr Neeraj Tyagi said that all the Covid-19 standard protocols were followed meticulously during the exercise.