Ludhiana - Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts have been chosen for COVID vaccine dry run to be held from January 27 to 29 in Punjab and it will be done using a dummy vaccine, said an official on Friday.

The dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system.

"Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar have been chosen for COVID-19 vaccine dry run to be held from January 27 to 29. It will be done using a dummy vaccine. We have 805 service locations for vaccination," Varinder Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana told.

The official said that 65 cold storage points have been developed in Ludhiana and the "vaccination drive will be held in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines issued by the authorities".

Earlier in the day, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu announced that the districts Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar have been selected as the two districts where the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine will be carried out. He said that five sights would be identified in each district to conduct the dry run of the COVID-19 vaccine on December 28 and 29.

"The dry run will exercise end to end testing of COVID-19 vaccination process and will vaccinate pre-identified beneficiaries from specified groups supported by Co-WIN, an electronic application. The primary objective of the dry run included assessing the operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment and testing linkages between planning. Implementation and reporting mechanisms would identify challenges and guideway forward prior to actual implementation," Sidhu said.

"The dry run will exercise end to end testing of COVID-19 vaccination process and will vaccinate pre-identified beneficiaries from specified groups supported by Co-WIN, an electronic application. The primary objective of the dry run included assessing the operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment and testing linkages between planning. Implementation and reporting mechanisms would identify challenges and guideway forward prior to actual implementation," Sidhu said.

The Minister said that immunisation partners the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the state-level will support this dry run activity.

The Central Government is gearing up for the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine across the country and a two-days dry run has been planned in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab considering the geographical locations next week, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. (ANI)