As India intensifies its efforts to vaccinate the population, amid fears of another wave of coronavirus, officials suspect thousands of people have been given injections of fake vaccines in Mumbai.
Police have arrested 14 people on suspicion of involvement in a scheme that administered salt water injections instead of vaccine doses over the past two months.
Organizers, including medical professionals, allegedly received up to $ 17 per dose.
"The detainees are charged with criminal conspiracy, fraud and forgery," said Vishal Thakur, a Mumbai police officer.
"We have arrested doctors, " he added. "They were using a hospital that was producing fake certificates."
"They were using salt water and injecting it," Thakur said, adding that about 2,500 people were deceived.
More than 2,600 people came to the camps to receive the dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured and marketed in India as Covishield. Some said they were suspicious when their vaccinations did not appear on the Indian government's online portal.
