Covid vaccine dry run begins at 31 places in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Jan 2 (IANS) As India gears up for a Coronavirus vaccination process, the dry run for immunization activity goes underway at 31 places of Odisha as part of the nation-wide exercise, said an official on Saturday.The vaccination sites have been identified in all district headquarter hospitals and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar."Odisha is the only state where we are conducting dry run at 31 places. The dry run is conducted to ensure smooth vaccination after the rollout of a vaccine," informed additional chief secretary (Health) Pradipta Mohapatra.The massive exercise comes a day after Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) recommended the approval of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate manufactured by Serum Institute of India."The Oxford Covid-19 vaccine Covishield manufactured by SII was given clearance by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) yesterday. Keeping this in view, we expect the vaccine will arrive in the state any day this month," he said.The Co-WIN web portal (trial version) is used for dry run vaccination. The user ID for each district and Capital Hospital has been created.At each site, 25 numbers of beneficiaries (health care workers) have been enrolled in the portal for dry run vaccination.
--IANS cd/in