COVID19 Mumbai: Residents of a housing society in Kandivali claim they were given fake Coronavirus vaccine shots
Mumbai: Residents of a housing society in Mumbai’s Kandivali region have claimed they were victims of a 'vaccination scam' and the alleged fraudster duped them by supplying fake COVID-19 shots.
The incident came to light at a time when the nation is combating a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 virus.
As part of a vaccination camp at Hiranandani Estate Society on May 30, around 390 people received Covishield vaccines inside the society premises, reports India Today.
The residents claimed that a facilitator, Rajesh Pandey, got in touch with society committee members claiming to be a representative of Kokilaben Ambani Hospital.
A person, who was identified as Sanjay Gupta coordinated the vaccination drive.
The members of the society claimed another person, who was identified as Mahendra Singh, collected the cash.
Hitesh Patel, a resident of the housing society, told India Today, "My son got himself vaccinated. For each dose, we paid Rs 1,260. After getting the vaccine, we did not receive any messages. I would like to point out that we were not allowed to take photos or selfies while getting vaccinated.”
At Rs 1260 per dose and 390 people receiving the vaccine, the society paid around Rs 5 lakh to the facilitator, reports the Indian magazine.
People suspected the scam when none of the inoculated persons developed any post-jab symptoms.
Society member Hrishabh Kamdar told India Today, "We were shocked there were no symptoms or side effects. We started wondering what was going on because we did not even get our certificates. We only received certificate after 10-15 days."
However, these vaccination certificates were from different hospitals like Nanavati, Lifeline, Nesco BMC vaccination center etc., which further sparked doubts that something was amiss. When contacted, these hospitals denied ever providing vaccines to the housing society in question, reported the magazine.
A statement from Nanavati Hospital said as quoted by India Today, "It was recently brought to our notice that residents of a Kandivali-based housing society were issued Covid-19 vaccination certificates in the name of Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital. We wish to clarify that we have not conducted any vaccination camp at the said residential complex. We have informed authorities concerned and are lodging a formal complaint regarding the same."
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