Five held in Noida for 'unauthorised' Covid jabs

Gautam Nagar police busted a fake COVID-19 vaccine camp and arrested five people for administering unauthorised vaccines to eighteen people. The accused did not take prior permission from the health department before administering the doses.

Noida: Five people were arrested for allegedly administering 'unauthorised' COVID-19 vaccines to the people of the town after Gautam Budh Nagar health department on Tuesday conducted a search at a vaccine camp.

The health department stated that five people were arrested for administering unauthorised COVID-19 vaccines to eighteen people and the premises were sealed. A COVID-19 vaccine camp was set up in Greater Noida under Dadri police station limits and people were given vaccine doses without the prior permission of health ministry and government authority.

Dr Sanjeev Saraswat, in-charge of the Community Health Centre, Dadri said, "A social media post of administering free COVID-19 vaccines went viral on social media. After receiving the information, I informed the higher health authorities and the Chief medical officer. We came to know that people were given doses of Zydus Cadila vaccine on a trial basis. No permission was taken from the health authorities. Police also seized a laptop, vaccine doses, mobile phones and other medical equipment from the camp."

“They showed us some documents having approval from the Drugs Controller General of India for the clinical trial. But they had not informed the health department or the district administration about this exercise,” he said.

Police said that the health department and the police are questioning the accused and an FIR will be registered after the investigation will be completed.