Vaccines may come to your home soon, but ensure it’s not fake

Nagpur: Fake vaccination camps in Kolkata and Mumbai have proven that people could go to any level when it comes to minting money.
Vaccines are likely to be available soon in fully private setups and in the form of camps in housing societies as well as localities in Nagpur too. In such conditions, it becomes important to take precautions and protect ourselves from a vaccination scam. As officials are more alert now, and the administration is implementing all measures to avoid any such scam in Nagpur, experts have shared some simple and valuable tips to ensure that you get only genuine vaccine.
“As a healthcare professional, it is our utmost responsibility to notify people about the precautions they must take to protect themselves from getting into a vaccination scam,” said Dr Niranjan Patil, head & biosafety officer, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd.
“As we all know that vaccines are providing people with the much-needed mental health boost after seeing a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases all over India, now the world is witnessing the dark side of it in the form of vaccination fraud or fake Vaccination,” he added.
While Nagpur or other places in Vidarbha are still away from any such fraud, it’s very much possible for the fraudsters to target tier-II and III cities as and when vaccination forays more into public domain. By August, housing societies and workplaces in smaller towns will start holding vaccination camps after a significant population will be covered under government vaccination drives.
A senior microbiologist in Nagpur told TOI that people must ensure that the vial of vaccine is kept safely before getting jabbed.
“Maximum shelf life of Covishield and Covaxin is 6 months if stored in a refrigerator between 2 to 8°C. Once removed from the fridge, it must be stored between 2 to 25°C for up 6 hours. Once punctured, the vial must be used within 4 hours. Most importantly, during storage, the vials must be kept in outer carton to protect from light,” said the doctor, adding that people should not accept the jab if vial is stored outside in the light for more period.
Such complications may increase after vaccines will be made available in an out-of-hospital setup. So, it becomes the responsibility of people to double-check, said doctors.
Ensure authentic jab
Register through an authorized vaccination portal
Verify whether hospital or centre is authorized to offer such a vaccination camp
Verify identity of a person approaching your housing society or workplace for vaccination
Avoid temptation to bypass the registration process
Avoid anyone who says no documentation, or no queue required as frauds could take advantage of that
In case of a paid vaccination, insist on payment receipt with proper details
Receipt must include date, time, and venue of vaccination
Identification of the authenticity of vaccine certificate is another must