Covid-19 vaccination dry run held in nine centres in Dakshina Kannada

The Covid-19 vaccination dry run that was undertaken in nine centres in Dakshina Kannada district on Friday was successfully completed with 23 ‘beneficiaries’ participating in the mock drill at each centre.

Upon arrival, details of the beneficiaries were verified against a list. They were given hand sanitisers and their body temperature checked. Following this, they were sent to the waiting room. The waiting room only had limited people at a time, who were waiting for their turn to be ‘vaccinated’. Out of 207 beneficiaries, 192 were given mock vaccination in the district.

Dr B V Rajesh, Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Officer of Dakshina Kannada, told DH that the inoculation dry run were held at Government Wenlock District Hospital, Urban Public Health Centre (PHC) in Surathkal, Bantwal Taluk Hospital, Community Health Centre in Kadaba, PHC in Naravi, Yenepoya Medical College-Deralakatte, KVG Medical College in Sullia, Indiana Hospital in Mangaluru and K S Hegde Medical Academy in Deralakatte.

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“We had identified 23 beneficiaries each from the health sector, including nurses, doctors, drivers and others, to take part in the Covid-19 vaccine dry run at the designated centres. All guidelines related to the vaccination drive were followed during the dry run. All beneficiaries reached the vaccination centres by adhering to the Covid-19 guidelines and they were allowed to enter the centres alone. We also verified beneficiaries’ documents before they were allowed inside the vaccination room,” Dr Rajesh said.

Soon after the mock vaccination process, the beneficiaries were directed to rest in an observation room for 30 minutes, he said.

The dry run is an exercise for end-to-end testing of Covid-19 vaccination process except for the actual vaccination and will include planning and preparations, including prerequisites for vaccine introduction and use of Co-WIN portal, uploading beneficiaries and session site details, verification of documents at the centre
where the drive will be taken up, mock drill of beneficiary vaccination and reporting.

The dry run will ensure the feasibility of Covid-19 vaccination implementation at all types of session sites, said the officials.

In the first phase of vaccination drive, the district has prepared a list of 39,715 beneficiaries from the health sector.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner
Dr Rajendra K V said, “The vaccination dry run will clear confusion among the public on the vaccination. In the first phase, Covid-19 vaccination will be administered to Covid warriors.

He said there is a need to collect information on those who are getting vaccinated to know whether they are suffering from any comorbid conditions. The Covid-19 guidelines should be strictly adhered to check the spread of the infection.

The DC directed the officials to take action against those who do not wear masks in public places and shopkeepers. Officials were also asked to cancel the licence of shops that didn’t adhere to the guidelines.