Mumbai fake vaccination drive: Everything you need to know

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

Last week, when Sanjay Jaiswal, co-founder of Thakur Complex Residents Association, organised a vaccination camp in Kandivli East, he was flooded with phone calls from residents who wanted to know whether it was an authentic drive. "People are scared to sign up [for private vaccination camps]. From what we hear, three housing societies in the neighbourhood cancelled their vaccination drives and, some rerouted it to ours, because they thought it was legitimate. Many would prefer [to get jabbed] at a BMC centre over a private one at this point." Jaiswal says he informed the residents to come to the camp only if they receive a CoWin reference message. "A lot of corporates have given a deadline to their employees to get themselves inoculated before a stipulated date if they wish to return to work. So people want to get vaccinated quickly."

The panic is a fallout of the fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination drives conducted at nine locations in Mumbai, including the Hiranandani Heritage Society in Kandivli, whose residents were the first to question the validity of the vaccines. The society had reportedly paid R5 lakh to two agents - Rajesh Pandey and Sanjay Gupta of SP Events. Suspicions arose after none of the 390 residents developed post vaccination side effects or received their certificates. Subsequently, other scams came to light. Ramesh Taurani, founder of Tips Industries Limited, complained that 365 of his employees got vaccines on May 30 and June 3, but never received the certificates.

A vaccination camp that was successfully conducted for the 18 to 44 age group at Krishna Niwas Cooperative Housing Society, Walkeshwar, by MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha, in collaboration with Apollo Hospital, on May 30. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Matchbox Pictures also reported that SP Events had organised a similar drive for 150 employees on May 29. Aditya College of Design Studies, Borivli, complained that an event management company had organised a fake vaccination drive on its campus. In total, about 2,053 people have fallen prey to the vaccine scam in Mumbai.
Last week, Mumbai police arrested Dr Shivraj Pataria and his wife Nita Pataria, founder and owner of Charkop-based Shivam Hospital, in connection with the scam at the Kandivli society.

Jaiswal says before the scams came to light, registrations would almost always outnumber vaccine availability. "In early May, when we conducted a drive in collaboration with Apollo Hospital, 3,500 people signed up, although there were only 2,000 vaccines available. Three days ago, we ordered a batch of 2,000, but the turnout was 1,500."

An adolescent receives a jab in Wroclaw, Poland. A bogus vaccine scam was unearthed in the country, where the substance inside the vials was likely an anti-wrinkle treatment, Pfizer said. Pic/Getty Images

As governments and pharmaceutical companies ramp up production and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, the efforts are seeing a setback after incidents of counterfeits and fraud cropped up around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Interpol recently raised concerns about a spike in fake Coronavirus vaccines. In April, Pfizer Inc. identified bogus vaccines in Mexico and Poland - the first confirmed instances of counterfeit versions of the Covid-19 vaccine. The vials recovered in Mexico also had fraudulent labelling, while the substance inside the vials in Poland was likely an anti-wrinkle treatment, Pfizer said.

That they still are clueless about what was administered to them in the name of vaccines continues to plague residents of Hiranandani Heritage Society. "So far, none of the residents have experienced any adverse effect, therefore, we are hoping that what was injected was saline water. That said, we can't rule out the possibility of any long term side effects," said a resident, requesting anonymity.

Dr Veer Pushpak Gupta, NHS England

Out of the 390 who were "vaccinated", 150 have been issued provisional certificates. "These people, as per CoWin, have been vaccinated. Now, we all know that what was administered wasn't a vaccine, so, they won't be able to take their second dose till this matter is solved, or the vaccine certificate is nullified from the system. Moreover, there are many students who are planning to go abroad for the fall semester, and were part of the camp. The government has permitted them to take the second shot after 28 days, but unless this problem is resolved, they can't go ahead. It's messy."

Abhiroop Ramachandran, a resident of Hiranandani Heritage Society, is one of the students whose fate hangs in limbo due to the vaccine scam. "I have got admission at New York University and I'm supposed to fly early August. While I've received a certificate on CoWin, we don't know whether what was administered to us was a vaccine at all. Due to this, we can't take the second dose."

Joy Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer of PD Hinduja Hospital, says, as per the guidelines issued by the BMC, any society or workplace that plans to hold a mass vaccination camp, needs to apply [for a vaccination request] at a hospital. The latter must then visit the site, look into the infrastructure availability, inform the local BMC ward office and seek its permission. "Even on the day of the appointed vaccination, every [vaccination] team is required to intimate the local BMC ward office." According to Chakraborty, it's important that the society or workplace organising the drive deals directly with the hospital and all the correspondence is done on an official letterhead. "Very often, a so-called agent approaches societies without any credentials. And everybody wants to get a jab as quickly as possible. In fact, a society committee should request the said hospital to furnish documents that prove that they have applied to the local ward office for permission. To make it more stringent, you can even ask for a vaccination-approved centre status that the BMC issues in these cases," he says.

Advocate Sneha Prabhu and Anita Shekhar Castellino, appeared in Bombay High Court in a PIL hearing. They have asked for a state action plan, and to create a monitoring body that will look into the authenticity of vaccination camps

In a PIL filed by activist and lawyer Siddharth Chandrashekhar regarding the problems faced by citizens in getting the Covid-19 vaccine, the division bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday, granted five days' time to the authorities to come up with a plan to avoid such scams in future. The next hearing is on Tuesday. "The PIL was initially filed because we wanted to ensure better treatment at vaccination centres since most lack bathroom facilities and arrangements for the handicapped and seniors. We also wanted to raise concerns about vaccinating the transgender community and homeless people, who may not have an Aadhaar card," says advocate Sneha Prabhu, who along with Anita Shekhar Castellino, appeared in court. They received orders from the court that senior citizens should be given priority and a separate line at centres, and the CoWin app should have signage to indicate that a centre is disabled-friendly. With respect to the scams, Prabhu explains that while the BMC has made signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between private vaccination providers and housing societies mandatory, if such camps are organised, the issue is more complex than it seems. "We have asked for a state action plan, and to create a monitoring body to look into the authenticity of vaccination camps. This is a massive racket. The worst part is that nobody seems to know what has been administered. Serum Institute of India is saying that they will take time to verify the batch. One would assume that it's on an excel sheet."

A photo from a vaccination drive organised by Thakur Complex Residents Association in Kandivli East, in collaboration with Apollo Hospital last week. While 2,000 vaccines were ordered, only 1,500 people turned up.

Dr Rajesh Parikh is the author of The Vaccine Book and director, medical research and honorary neuropsychiatrist at the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. He says India isn't alone, and scams are unfolding across the world. "In December last year, the United States Department of Health and Human Services issued a warning to people to expect Covid-19 vaccine scams and not to start paying up. In the US, the federal government is already paying for vaccines for everyone living there. The same day, a scam appeared in Florida, offering the Pfizer vaccine for 80 USD. They said, ‘Give us 80 dollars and we'll give it to you now.'" The only kind of payment involving the vaccine, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, is the administration fee that the vaccine administrator might charge your insurance provider. "If you break it down, it [scam] can involve different things, such as registration, making appointments through third-party services or a massive vaccination camp like what we are seeing in Mumbai."

Sanjay Jaiswal, co-founder of the association, attributes it to fear among residents following the Hiranandani society scam

Dr Veer Pushpak Gupta, health entrepreneur and physician at National Health Service (NHS), England, says fortunately, the UK has managed to keep these frauds in check, mostly because the entire system is "centralised by the NHS". "Only those invited with a barcode can get the vaccine and each vaccine corresponds to a batch number, which is put on to the patient's GP database. India could take a leaf out of this book."

Dr Rajesh Parikh says scams can involve a variety of elements, ranging from registration and making appointments through third-party services to holding a massive fake vaccination camp like we are seeing in Mumbai

Explaining why people fall prey to scams, Dr Parikh points to a theory by Daniel Kahneman, psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman notes there are two types of thinking: fast, intuitive, and emotional; the other is slower, more deliberate, and therefore logical. "Increasingly, we have been conditioned into doing things quickly and it's possible for us to take decisions fast today given the technology we have. Human nature is such that cue words like, ‘grab it,' ‘last few left', ‘last day', trigger our quick thinking. This plays a role in scams such as these."

But there are telltale signs, he adds. "How do you know if what's being offered is real? First, if somebody asks for money quickly, even a small amount, it should raise suspicion. Second, if somebody promises to deliver the vaccine home, be careful, because that's impossible to implement. The third is if the communication comes from an unrecognised site that is offering the vaccine. Always check the antecedents."

Dr Parikh says scamsters not only cheat the people of their money and endanger their health, but also contribute to the spread of the pandemic. "The data gets skewed because it says a certain number of people have been vaccinated, but that's not the case. You might roam around like a free bird thinking you're vaccinated, endangering your own life and that of others. They [fraudsters] are messing with policy, data and cheating people off their safety for a piddly amount. It's sinister."

10
Total number of arrests made in the various unauthorised vax drives held in city

09
Total number of unauthorised vaccination drives unearthed in Mumbai