New Delhi: Drawing from the Pulse Polio drive of 1994 in Delhi, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today stressed the need to involve “the relevant stakeholders, NGOs, Civil Society Organisation (CSOs)” since the exercise of COVID-19 vaccination “is so integrally based on interaction and involvement of people”. The Minister also stressed on the need for adequate security arrangements at session sites, cold chain points and during vaccine transportation.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, who today chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness at session sites across the country for COVID-19 vaccination trial run tomorrow, was briefed by the senior officials of the ministry on various improvements that had been made to make tomorrow’s Pan-India dry-run “glitch free”. They informed that number of telephone operators had been increased to answer every possible query from the teams on ground conducting the dry-run; block level task forces had been constituted for physical inspection of the sites; all workers had been oriented for the purpose with the dissemination of FAQs on the process, among other issues.
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The Minister asked every official to ensure that the vaccination sites and official incharge abide by the detailed checklist and SOP for vaccination that has been prepared by the Union Health Ministry and shared with the States and Union Territories to guide them in the dry run. He pressed the need for perfect calibration between the administrative and medical officers to make the event a primer that would later enable the mass implementation of vaccination drive.
Re-emphasising the importance of such an event that involves mass participation similar to the elections, he said, “Let us attempt to implement it as a real exercise with attention to the minutest detail. Proper co-ordination will go a long way in building mutual understanding so that the upcoming vaccination drive may proceed without any glitch.”
Dr. Vardhan also spoke with officials of Delhi: Shri Amit Singla, Secretary (Health), District Magistrates and District Immunisation Officers of Shahdara, Central and South-West districts of Delhi where the three sites of Delhi are located. These three sites are Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Shahdara, Urban Primary Health Centre, Daryaganj and Venkateshwar Hospital, Dwarka.
The officers told him that the designated team had been adequately trained for the purpose and that they would be personally monitoring each and every aspect of the process to identify gaps and report them back. They also apprised the Minister of the preparations done for the dry run including setting up of session site, process of updation and collation of data, uploading it on CoWIN, training of the vaccinators, preparedness for any adverse event following immunization (AEFI), cold chain management, security of session sites and vaccine storage sites, etc.
The officers further expressed confidence in their preparedness regarding the mock drill and assured the Minister that they were in all preparedness for the actual exercise of vaccination of the identified beneficiaries.
Dr. Vardhan also updated the officers on the status of the two leading vaccine candidates whose data are being closely monitored by the Subject Expert Committee of DCGI. He appreciated the efforts of front-line workers and expressed his condolence for those Corona warriors who sacrificed their lives in an attempt to save others.
– global bihari bureau
