Majority of the vaccinations are being conducted by the private sector as the Shiv Sena led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation seems to have abdicated its responsibility and is waiting for the Centre to take over its failing vaccination program. Left to themselves, the residents of the upmarket Hiranandani Estate Society in Kandivali conducted a vaccination drive where 390 of its residents got inoculated. However, it turns out it was a massive fake vaccine scam.
On May 30, 390 residents of the Hiranandani Estate Society in Kandivali appeared to have been inoculated against the Wuhan coronavirus by taking the Covishield vaccine in their society premises. However, it turns out it was a massive scam, and the residents were given fake doses.
Hiren Vohra, a resident of the society said, “Around 390 people were vaccinated on May 30, as part of vaccination drive. Post vaccination, there were no symptoms in anyone. We got certificates under different hospitals’ names, who denied having issued any certification. This is when we suspected foul play.”
The society ended up paying a whopping Rs 5 lakh to the organiser of the purported vaccination drive. The organiser claimed to be a representative of the prestigious Kokilaben Ambani Hopsital.
Residents suspected something was fishy after none of the 390 people who were supposedly inoculated showed any symptoms post taking the vaccine. In fact, the residents were barred from taking any photos of them being inoculated and didn’t receive their vaccination certificates till two weeks.
According to Mumbai Police, when the certificates did arrive, they were of different dates and locations despite all 390 people getting supposedly inoculated together on May 30 at their society premises.
Vohra said, “There’s a strong possibility of big vaccination fraud. How can the certificates be issued without authentication from hospitals.”
Mumbai Police has so far detained two people in connection with the scam.
Another resident, Hitesh Patel, said, “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.”
Hrishabh Kamdar, another resident, said, “We were shocked there were no symptoms or side effects. We started wondering what was going on because we did not even get out certificates. We only received certificate after 10-15 days.”
This is a massive scam, and the Mumbai Police must investigate and bring the case to its logical conclusion.