Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviews preparedness for Covid vaccine dry run

With just one left for India's dry-run for administering the Covid-19 vaccine, Union Health and Family Affairs Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that at least two vaccine makers have sent their applications to the drug controller for approval. He made these remarks during a review meeting of India's preparedness for the dry-run.

The minister said that lists of health workers have been created and will be uploaded on the Covid-19 platform. "Just like we prepare during elections, the same way we need to train each member of all medical teams responsibly," Dr Harsh Vardhan said, adding that the "minutest details" are being thoroughly researched.

He said that after training over 2,000 master trainers at the national level, the training is underway at State and district level, in over 700 districts.

The dry-run for one of the world's largest efforts will be conducted by all the states and union territories on January 2 to test their preparedness and identify the challenges before the vaccination programme is rolled out.

The minister said: "At least two vaccine makers have sent their applications to drug controller and experts for approval, their data are being studied pro-actively," he said.

<em>(IANS)</em>.