The second COVID-19 vaccination dry run has been conducted in 33 districts across the state of Assam along with other states and Union Territories excluding Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

According to reports, 25 beneficiaries will be included in the health centre in each district.

The simulation of the actual execution of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is being conducted to ensure efficient planning and management of the immunisation process.

Similar to the previous dry run conducted on January 2, each district will identify three types of session sites which will include a public health facility (district hospital/medical college), private health facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

Ahead of the dry run, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan conducted meeting with the health ministers of states and Union territories telling them to put an end to disinformation campaigns regarding the vaccine.

Union Ministry of Health has been proactively carrying out the preparations for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine, in collaboration with states and UTs and all stakeholders, over the past couple of months to ensure that the preparations for roll-out are on track," the ministry said in a statement, reported PTI.  

The entire planning of the vaccination drive including beneficiary registration, microplanning and vaccination at the planned session site will be tested under the leadership of District Collector or District Magistrate during the dry run, according to a report of IANS. 

The dry run will ensure that every state, district, block and hospital-level officers familiarize themselves on all aspects of the COVID vaccine rollout. 

In a massive nation-wide exercise on January 2, an end-to-end mock drill on the vaccine administration was conducted in all states and UTs at 286 session sites spread across 125 districts.