Instances of fake COVID-19 vaccination camps and vaccines have come to the central government’s notice from Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the Lok Sabha was told on Friday.
The Ministry of Health has directed the state governments to investigate these instances and take stringent legal and administrative actions so that such fraudulent activities are not repeated in future, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
She was responding to a question on whether the government has identified any fake vaccines of approved Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V across the country since the beginning of the vaccination programme and measures taken to identify and stop the fake vaccines from circulation.
Pawar said that as an additional measure of caution and stringent action, all states and union territories were asked to increase the vigilance within the supply chains and carefully authenticate the product and its physical condition before its use so as to guard against such unscrupulous activities.
Further, communication has also been sent to all states and union territories that all beneficiaries who receive vaccines must be captured on CoWIN portal and issued digital vaccination certificate and all vaccination sessions should be recorded on the portal, Pawar said.
