Bhopal: State goes on vaccine dry run mode

BHOPAL: After two-hour dry-run in Bhopal on Saturday, the health department is now well set for actual roll out of the Covid vaccine in the State . It may take a week for actual vaccination to frontline healthcare workers in the state. The Union Government is expected to clear ‘Covishield’, developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, by Monday and then after a week, it may start in the state .

The health department checked its preparations through a dry run conducted at three session centres. Similarly, the team monitored sending SMSs to beneficiaries and telephonic talks with them to ensure their availability and other things, for the success of the dry run. JP Hospital was main controlling centre of dry run. Dummy vaccine was transported from JP Hospital to all three vaccination centres. The health department team reached vaccination centres before 9am to monitor the dry run. Deputy Director, health Dr Saurav Purohit said, “We reached vaccination centre at 7:30am and the dummy vaccine was brought here at 8:30am to start dry run from 9am. So there was no delay in dry run and everything was done smoothly.”

State Immunization Officer Dr Santosh Shukla said, “As per the guidelines of Union health ministry, the dry run was to be conducted in ALL state capitals in 3 sites to ensure effective preparedness for the roll out. So it was conducted in Bhopal at three sites. The Dry run was quite successful.”