Govt should be stricter to resist vaccine frauds

Golam Mostafa Jibon:Experts have advised the government to be more careful and sincere to prevent all kinds of vaccine fraud after some incidents over vaccine swindling occurred in and outside of the country recently have come to light.
If the government and concerned law enforcers are not alert right now, it may be serious turn at any time in the country putting the people’s lives at risk.
Dr. M Iqbal Arslan, President of Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad (SWACHIP), Professor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Member of the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 said, “Some fraudulent incidents occurred recently in Tangail and Chattogram over vaccinations have drawn attention of the country’s people. Besides, we have come to know about vaccine swindling incidents of different countries in the world. So, the government should be alert since the beginning in which such as incidents do not occur in the country further. Besides, the concerned authorities and law enforcers should carry proper investigation to find out the real facts and bring the guilty persons under trial, if the allegations are proved as truth.”
He further said, “The government should beef up surveillance so that none dares to vaccine manipulate. If such incidents occur frequently, public health will face dire consequences. So, it is right time to take necessary steps to stop vaccine frauds.”
Professor Dr. Shahana Akhter Rahman, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of BSMMU said, “Country’s all people must be brought under vaccination to protect the public health from deadly coronavirus infection. If any manipulation is occurred here, country’s people may face difficulty over their health safety. All the efforts of the government will go in vain, if the frauds are not resisted right now. So, there is no alternative of strong monitoring over the issue.”
It is to be mentioned that, allegation has intensified that only needles were pushed or injected in the bodies of 20 people without any vaccines by a health worker.
The incident took place at Delduar Upazila Health Complex in Tangail district on Sunday last (August 1).
According to the victims, the health worker named Sajeda Afrin took the dose of the vaccine (liquid vaccine) in the syringe, but she did not push it into the bodies of the vaccine seekers. She threw the syringe with the dose of vaccine as it was pushed. Later, a probe body was formed to investigate into the incident. Meanwhile, the probe body found reality of the allegation and recommended for departmental action against the health worker as soon as possible.
Abul Fazal Mohammad Sahabuddin, Civil Surgeon of Tangail admitted the incident and said, “Evidences of the allegation have been found and the investigation report has already sent to the concerned authorities recommending to take necessary action against the offender.”
In another incident, the names of local Parliament Member (MP) Shamsul Haque Chowdhury and his brother Fazlul Haque Mohabbat have come up behind the theft of about 2,600 doses of coronavirus vaccine from Patia Upazila Health Complex in Chattogram.
Allegation has raised that Samsul Haque used medical technologist Rabiul Hossain to remove the vaccine from the hospital. Then, his brother Mohabbat sold the doses of the vaccine on July 30 and 31 with the prices between Tk 500 and Tk 3000 per dose. These vaccines were then pushed into the bodies of unregistered people by setting up illegal vaccination centers next to the MP’s house in Shovondondi Union. Experts have expressed surprise over the selling of vaccine without paying attention to the rules and regulations of the government. Terming the incident as a punishable offense, specialists claimed that a large number of people are at grave health risk as vaccines have injected into the human bodies in an unacceptable manner. If the punishment of those responsible is not ensured, the experts fear that there may be occurred anarchy in the country over the vaccination during the Corona epidemic.It will not possible to curb the corona pandemic anyway.
A tree member investigation team was also formed on behalf of the Divisional Director of Health in Chattogram to investigate the incident. The investigation team preliminarily found involvement of the said persons with the vaccine scam. Not only in Bangladesh, precedent of such vaccine swindling has come forwards in different other countries of the world.
Allegation has intensified that saline water was pushed into the bodies of over 2,500 people in Mumbai, also commercial capital in India. The incident was occurred after the same incident of Kalkata around two months ago. A few number of people was arrested in this connection. (Source: CNN)
Quoting international police agency Interpol, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that security officials in China and South Africa seized thousands of fake doses of the coronavirus vaccine on March last. An Interpol statement said about 2,400 doses of fake vaccines and masks had been seized from a warehouse outside the South African capital-Johannesburg. Three Chinese and one Zambian national were detained at that time. A cycle of counterfeit vaccine production from China was also reported.
A Chinese man named Kong used to make fake corona vaccine with water and saline. He has made millions of dollars by making and selling those fake vaccines. Such shocking information came to light after his arrest.
He carried research on real vaccine packaging design. He later made more than 56,000 fake doses of vaccines and marketed those.
Kong also smuggled a consignment of that vaccine abroad. Bu,t it was not known where the consignment was sent. Earlier, police arrested 69 more people in similar incidents. More than 20 cases were lodged against the arrested persons.
According to court sources, Kong and his team marketed fake vaccine after filling up with saline and mineral water inside syringe bottles in August last year. In this way, they embezzled more than $ 27,00000. In November last year, 600 doses of the counterfeit vaccine were shipped to Hong Kong. These counterfeit vaccines were sold using the internal channels of internal manufacturers.Counterfeit vaccines are sold at higher prices in different hospitals. Some more criminals go from house to house in rural areas and provide fake vaccines, a report of BBC revealed.