On Thursday, a police investigation confirmed the involvement of Sindh Health Department officials in Karachi’s vaccine scam.
The Karachi police on Monday arrested two suspects and recovered 513 empty vials of vaccines from their possession. The vaccines included Sinopharm, SinoVac, and Cansino.
The police also found documents showing that 60 people received the Pfizer vaccine illegally.
Read more: Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine becomes the first vaccine to get “emergency validation” from WHO
The two suspects arrested accused the District Health Office, East Karachi of supplying the vaccines. During the investigation, they named three people who provided the suspects with the vaccines.
Man arrested by police in Karachi for administering Covid-19 vaccines to people at home in exchange for money
Police say he implicated his company and its owner – a retired major – in the scam – was found with vials of vaccines, syringes and blank govt vaccine registration cards
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) July 27, 2021
According to the interrogation report, one arrested man, Zeeshan said that he was appointed as a male nurse on contract at the DHO Health Office. With the help of his colleague Sultan, he went door-to-door with the health care service to vaccinate people.
He also confessed that they sold Sinopharm, Sinovac, Pfizer vaccines for Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 15,000. He further revealed that the people who got the vaccine jabs were the people who intended to go abroad.
Accused Zeeshan said that he used to give the money to the health department officers after selling vaccines.
The police are currently seeking permission for further arrest after the shocking revelation of Sindh Health Department officials’ alleged involvement in the COVID vaccine scam taking place in Karachi.
Read more: Sindh govt’s negligence led to HIV outbreak in Larkana
Covid vaccine scam in Lahore
In Lahore, a Covid vaccine scam ran in three state-run hospitals. In April, news came that the hospitals allegedly administered vaccines to unauthorized persons. People also accused the hospitals of wasting many vials of vaccines.
According to reports, nearly 1,400 doses of the vaccine donated by China were administered to the ‘unauthorized’ persons’ or gone ‘missing’. As a result, the hospitals came under fire for the scam.
Read more: China to gift 0.5M more Sinopharm vaccine doses to Pakistan
In April, as per the government’s instructions, vaccines were for registered health professionals only.
As per an anonymous source, the accused hospitals administered vaccines to celebrities, including parents of the ministers and other individuals of the ruling elite.
However, a senior doctor belonging to one of the hospitals denied all allegations. The doctor maintained that the Punjab government changed its strategy/policy. It allowed vaccination to 60 or above and then 70 and above senior citizens other than health professionals.