Maharashtra is scrambling to limit the damage after it has come to light that some 390 people of a society were administered with saline waters, and not proper Covid-19 vaccine doses.
State health minister Rajesh Tope has said that the victims would undergo antibody tests and would be administered two doses of Covishield vaccine.
This vaccination scam came to light when residents of the Hiranandani Heritage Society got suspicious about the so-called vaccines administered to them on May 30, 2021.
The suspicion arose after the victims observed that the vaccinating teams didn’t have laptops and the vaccine beneficiaries received certificates in the name of different hospitals. In all, they paid Rs 4.56 lakhs at Rs 1,260 each dose.
After they lodged a police complaint, it came to light that those hospitals mentioned in certificates refuted that they had anything to do with the said vaccination drive.
Further probe revealed that neither the guidelines were followed nor permission had been obtained from the concerned authorities for organizing the vaccination camp.
However, Tope has now confirmed that in all a total of 2,040 people have fallen prey to the vaccination scam in Mumbai.
Rajesh Tope said that the preliminary probe suggests that the accused procured the empty Covishield vaccine bottles of the “97 batch which was sent to Gujarat” and filled them with saline water to carry out the vaccine drive.
As per investigations, till now 10 people are arrested and many FIRs have been filed, he said.
