Mumbai housing society residents raise doubts over Covid-19 vaccination camp

A “vaccination camp” held on May 30 at a Kandivli housing society, Hiranandani Heritage, has left 400-odd beneficiaries concerned about its authenticity after they started receiving certificates from centres that were not supposed to be involved in the inoculation programme, along with incorrect dates.

A “vaccination camp” held on May 30 at a Kandivli housing society, Hiranandani Heritage, has left 400-odd beneficiaries concerned about its authenticity after they started receiving certificates from centres that were not supposed to be involved in the inoculation programme, along with incorrect dates.

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The police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are investigating the matter as all the three hospitals and a centre have denied their involvement with the camp. According to residents, they were charged ₹1,260 per dose of Covishield, which they said saw no side effects for any of the beneficiaries. A complaint has been filed by the residents at Kandivli police station.

According to residents, the Hiranandani Heritage Residents Welfare Association (HHRWS), a managing body representing three buildings in the residential complex at Kandivli (West), arranged for a vaccination drive for its residents on May 30. The residents were informed that it was in association with Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri. A total of 390 people got inoculated. But they weren’t registered on the centralised Co-WIN portal, as per the rules. After seven-eight days, the residents started getting messages about their vaccination certificates. But to their surprise, they were issued certificates from two private hospitals— Nanavati Max Super Speciality and Lifeline hospitals — and the civic-run NESCO jumbo centre, Goregaon, which does not even hold vaccination in societies.

In addition to this, the dates of vaccination were incorrect on the issued certificates. They had paid the Rs1,260 fee between May 27 and 28, while enrolling for the camp.

“We didn’t know the rules that on-the-spot registration is compulsory while taking the jab. So, we didn’t demand for spot registration on the Co-WIN portal. After seven-eight days, the beneficiaries started getting calls, seeking the Co-WIN registration OTP received on their phones. Then they received messages of the certificates,” said a resident from the society whose 34-year-old son took the jab. But when he downloaded his vaccination certificate, Nanavati Hospital was mentioned as the vaccinator. “In fact, his date of vaccination is recorded as June 12, which again indicates a spurious activity,” he added.

However, the hospital issued an official statement, clarifying that they weren’t involved in the camp. “We wish to clarify that we have not conducted any vaccination camp at the said residential complex. We have informed authorities concerned and are lodging a formal complaint regarding the same,” read the statement.

Dr Neelam Andrade, dean of NESCO jumbo centre, said no vials of Covishield have been sent out for the camp. “Firstly, we don’t vaccinate outside our centre. Secondly, being a civic-run centre, we don’t charge the public for the vaccination. If certificates have been issued in the name of NESCO, then how are the people being charged?”

A senior officer from Lifeline Hospital, Malad also refuted any involvement in the camp. “After the residents got in touch with us, we also investigated the matter. Though the certificates are real, we didn’t issue those,” said the officer.

Many of the residents haven’t received their vaccination certificates yet.

“We agreed for the vaccination as it was claimed that it would be done in an association with Kokilaben Hospital. But on the day of vaccination, we were being told that due to staff shortage, they arranged for vaccinators from a nearby private hospital,” said another resident.

Dr Santosh Shetty, chief executive officer of Kokilaben Hospital, said, “I am aware of the incident. But we don’t know anyone who got in touch with us for the vaccination. We aren’t filing a police complaint so far as the certificates issued to the beneficiaries don’t mention the name of our hospital.”

The residents also said that no one has complained of the usual side effects of fever, body aches or other physical discomfort, which is surprising and hence they suspect the genuineness of the vaccine. “There are doubts about whether we were actually given Covishield or was it just glucose or expired/waste vaccine,” a software engineer Neha Alshi wrote in a Twitter thread.

Some residents are even planning to take a spike antibody test to check if it was actually Covid-19 vaccine.

No FIR yet, but investigation is underway

The HHRWS has filed a complaint with Kandivli police station about the matter and demanded investigation of the matter. According to the complaint’s copy, they had arranged the vaccination camp through a person named Pandey, who claimed to be the sales representative of Kokilaben Hospital.

Another person named, Sanjay Gupta, who was the coordinator for the camp, did not provide receipts for the payment for vaccines. Later, he had asked the association to make payment to the third person, Mahendra Singh, who had arrived at the end of the vaccination camp. When the members from the Management Committee of Associations (MCA) of the society asked about the certificates, they were being asked to wait for three-four days.

“If the vaccine is found to be spurious, the people who got vaccinated will have a medical emergency to deal with. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the whole episode so that such fraudulent activities are not repeated at other places,” the complaint of association states.

Police have started their investigation into the matter and recording statements of the organisers. When contacted Vishal Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (zone 11) said that they were verifying the written complaint received by them. “We have not registered an FIR yet. We are verifying the complaint,” said Thakur.

Another police officer said that the agent involved in the case had claimed that he had received the doses from Kokilaben Hospital, but had actually used vaccination doses from a few other hospitals, which were surplus or unused and gave the society members certificates from some other hospitals. “The certificates are being verified. We cannot reveal any names at this stage as an FIR has not been registered yet,” said the other officer.

Meanwhile, the BMC has also initiated an inquiry into the matter. They have asked their department to find out two major concerns— how the vials were procured and how the names of the hospitals were updated on the Co-WIN portal. They have also sought the issued certificates to check for its verification.

“At present, we don’t know much about the issue. We will hold our own investigation into the matter to check how the vials were procured and the authenticity of the data uploaded on the Co-WIN portal,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.

Kandivali MLA Yogesh Sagar raised concern over the allegations and demanded stringent action against the culprits. “There are guidelines that need to be followed. If people are vaccinated on May 30, then why would they get inoculation on another day? This would also reflect on the overall figures of vaccination maintained centrally,” he said.

(With inputs from Megha Sood)