Although the exact date for Phase-I roll-out of the long-awaited COVID vaccine is yet to be announced, watching the developments it seems in all probability it will be next week. It’s a crucial time indeed when every minute is important for the entire country as much will depend on the soundness of the current overall preparations, a vital component of which are the dry runs. It is very much akin to what a student does before his board exams and on Friday another pan-India exercise after the maiden on January 2 will be held. Ahead of the real sessions, these dry runs also known as mock vaccination drills are of immense importance as it’s the only way to plug loopholes in all the involved aspects ranging from storage, logistics, training of stakeholders and so on. As per reports the first dry run in Arunachal Pradesh was a success and this has armed the State Health Department with much-needed confidence. The second one will presumably be the last one before real action begins and as such the final touches must be aimed to make sure that everything is okay.

Watching the developments relating to the preparations of the actual roll-out of the vaccine that are taking place almost on a daily basis now, it can be said that the Union Health Ministry is giving an extra emphasis and as such a decentralised approach involving the states in a greater way has been taken. On Thursday itself the Union Health Minister interacted with the health ministers of all the participating states and Union Territories and urged them to do all that are necessary for a perfect preparation and stop the misinformation campaigns about the vaccination, if any. The apprehension about these negative campaigns particularly on social media cannot be undermined and the only way to counter them is to launch counter-campaigns based on the information shared by the Union Ministries with respective health authorities of states. Even if the details of the enormous exercise which will involve around 1.7 lakh vaccinators and three lakh vaccination team members with associated steps such as beneficiary verification, cold chain and logistics management, bio-medical waste management, AEFI management, reporting on Co-WIN software and safety of the vaccine(s) are going on, it needs mentioning that a further wide-scale dissemination of these information on media, particularly the print is necessary to build a more doubt-free atmosphere.

The state has been giving its best efforts all throughout the last 10 months and this tempo must be repeated in the real sessions of the vaccination. For this, the last-minute glitches, if any, must be taken care of. Anyhow, Arunachal must win its COVID inoculation challenge.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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