Vaccine hoaxers in India have exposed thousands to fake doses and doctors and medical workers have been arrested in at least 12 vaccination drive scams, according to reports.
Mumbai police have busted at least 12 scams, exposing an estimated 2,500 patients to fake doses and netting criminals $28,000, according to senior official Vishal Thakur, CNN reported.
"They were using saline water and injecting it," Thakur told CNN. "Every fake vaccination camp that they held, they were doing this."
"We have arrested doctors. They were using a hospital which was producing the fake certificates, vials, syringes."
The investigation is continuing, he added, noting 14 have been arrested on suspicion of cheating, attempts at culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, and other charges.
India has stepped up its vaccinations amid a deadly wave of COVID-19 infections from April to early June. Just 4.5% of India (62 million people) has been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a vaccination drive to deliver vaccines to states for free this June, making the scams charging for vaccines suspect.
"None of our members got any symptoms and also we had to pay in cash," one resident exposed to the scam told. "At that point of time, we doubted it."
The Bombay High Court in a court filing by Mumbai lawyer Siddharth Chandrashekhar on June called the allegations "really shocking," according to the report, urging authorities to take action "so that innocent individuals are not duped in future."