The Government of India (GoI,) on the 31st of December, directed governments of all states and union territories (UTs) to conduct a dry run of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 vaccine.
According to reports, the GoI on the 31st of December, issued the directive to conduct a dry vaccination run on the 2nd of January 2021.
States and UTs were asked to conduct these runs in at least 3 session sites, including areas with rough terrain and poor logistical support.
Two districts of each state and UTs preferably in different session type settings like district hospital, urban site, private health facility, rural outreach would have vaccine dry run.
In vaccine dry run, the entire process of transporting the vaccines from storage to the site, administering them to candidates, feeding data on the Co-WIN app is practised without any real vaccine. The vaccine dry run was first conducted in 4 Indian states on the 28th and 29th of December.
The five states which conducted the vaccine dry run were Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Assam. The process was a success, following which the GoI decided to extend it across India.
Performing the mock drill in the rest of the Country would act in favour. Considering the current situation, the mock drill would make the post vaccine approval process easy without any hurdles/issues.
In regard to this, the Central Government placed orders for the procurement of nearly 83 crore syringes. Additionally, bids have also been invited for nearly 35 crore syringes.
These syringes would be used for COVID-19 vaccination in future.
With the announcement of vaccine dry run in India, the Central Government is hinting at the rapid introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine for people.
Comment of Mr. V.G. Somani, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI,) is a proof to it. Mr. Somani addressed the media and said, “We will have a Happy New Year with something in hand, that’s all I can hint at.”
Meanwhile, The subject expert committee (SEC) under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is also scheduled to meet on the 1st of January and take a decision on the emergency usage of vaccine doses applied to Pfizer, Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech International Private Limited.
These three companies of India worked and manufactured potential candidate vaccines for the Novel Coronavirus.
While Pfizer and SII are set to manufacture the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, Bharat Biotech is seeking approval for COVAXIN.
