Tuesday, 02 February 2021_Police in China have dismantled a ring that was making fake COVID-19 vaccines, arresting more than 80 people.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the gang had been putting saline water into vials and selling them as coronavirus vaccines since last September.
Police have traced where the counterfeit vaccines ended up.
The arrests were made in several locations across Beijing and multiple cities in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong.
During the operation, police also seized “more than 3,000 fake COVID-19 vaccines on the spot.”
According to Xinhua, China’s Ministry of Public Security is probing crimes related to the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit vaccines “and the illegal practice of medicine and fraud under the guise of the vaccines.”
The crackdown comes as China races to inoculate its population before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.
The holiday is marked with a travel rush, but authorities have urged people to stay home this year, introducing a mixture of restrictions and incentives.
China has been inoculating people with jabs from two companies, Sinovac and Sinopharm.
Sinopharm’s vaccine was approved for general use in December last year.
Last week, Hungary approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine, becoming the first European Union member country to give approval to the inoculation.
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