Chennai: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan arrived in Chennai on Thursday night to review the preparedness and oversee Covid-19 vaccination dry run to be conducted in the state today.
The Minister is expected to visit the Government Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital, and Government Omandurar Medical College Hospital.
In the afternoon, he will visit the private vaccination centre in Apollo Hospital, Chennai, after a brief visit to the General Medical Store Depot (GMSD) in Periamedu.
This is one of the four national vaccine storage facilities, the other three being at Mumbai, Kolkata and Karnal.
Thereafter, Harsh Vardhan will visit the vaccination centre at Chengalpattu. He will be visiting the Hindustan Bio-Tech Limited Campus at Chengalpattu after concluding his supervision at these sites.
The objective of the mock drill for vaccination is to simulate the actual vaccine administration event.
The entire planning of the vaccination drive including beneficiary registration, microplanning and vaccination at the planned sites, will be tested under the supervision of the District Collectors and District Magistrates.
Tamilnadu had conducted its first dry run on 2 January and submitted its report to the Union Government.
Today’s exercise will also familiarise the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers with all aspects of the vaccine roll out.
This activity will help administrators in strengthening the linkages between planning, implementation and reporting mechanisms, identification of any residual challenges prior to the actual implementation and to instil confidence in the programme managers at all levels for a smooth vaccination drive.