Four states to begin COVID-19 vaccination dry-run on Monday

A two-day dry run has been planned by the Centre to assess the readiness of the mechanism laid out for the COVID-19 inoculation drive in four states including Punjab, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat. The exercise will be conducted on December 28 and 29. The Union Health Ministry has prepared a detailed checklist to guide the four states in the dry run.

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of COVID-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended three prioritised



population groups including, healthcare workers (about 1 crore), frontline workers (about 2 crore), and prioritized age group (about 27 crore).

The Union Health Ministry said the present cold chain system consisting of 85,634 equipment for storage of vaccine at about 28,947 cold chain points across the country will be used. The current cold chain is capable of storing an additional quantity of COVID-19 vaccine required for the first three crore prioritised population.