Thousands get fake COVID vaccine shots in alleged scam in India

New Delhi — Indian authorities have arrested 14 people and cordoned off a private hospital as they investigate an alleged vaccination scam that purportedly saw thousands of people given shots of saline solution when they thought they were getting coronavirus vaccines. At least 2,000 people in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai and 500 in the eastern state of Bengal may have fallen prey to the elaborate scam, authorities said.

The alleged scammers are suspected of holding at least 12 private mass-vaccination sessions in May and June. They did not keep regional health authorities in the loop as they launched the vaccination camps. They're accused of filling used, empty bottles of real vaccine with the saline solution and administering the shots to anyone who showed up at the events. Police first registered a case last month after some people who had been given the shots grew suspicious when they didn't see their vaccination certificates appear on the government's online portal, CoWin. Their suspicion grew when none of the people who attended the vaccination events reported any of the usual post-vaccination side effects.