Noida: Four persons from a private pathology laboratory have been arrested by Gautam Buddh Nagar police from Dadri area for allegedly setting up camp to administer unauthorised Covid-19 vaccine to the people.
Those arrested have been identified as Rizwan Ali, Sudhakar Yadav, Suresh Kumar Singh and Sanjay Srivastava, all residents of Ghaziabad and worked as employees of Gopal Pathology Lab on GT road in Dardri. Police have also sealed the premises of pathology lab after it was ascertained that people were administered the unauthorised vaccine.
As per a senior officer of district health department, the lab management said that they were conducting the third phase clinical trials of Covid vaccine, developed by private pharma company, Zydus Cadila Healthcare Limited but no permission from local district health department was sought.
"Health department was conveyed that the private laboratory was administering a new Covid vaccine to people on Tuesday and a team from community health center in Dadri along with police reached the spot. As the government has set guidelines for clinical trials, the private lab was performing trials illegally without informing health department or district administration," said Dr. Deepak Ohrie, Chief Medical Officer of GB Nagar.
The officer further said that some persons were already administered with the new vaccine by the private lab on Tuesday and the health department is trying to be in their touch with them to examine if they face any health issues after taking vaccine.
In India, only two Covid-19 vaccines are approved currently for use — the Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield vaccine developed by Serum Institute of India.
Meanwhile, police have registered an FIR against the four persons who were arrested by police. "Following complaint received from district health department, an FIR under Section 420 (punishment for cheating) and section 15 (2) and 15 (3) of Indian Medical Council act has been registered. Unauthorised vaccine has been seized and the arrested accused have been sent to jail after producing before the court," said a senior police officer of GB Nagar police.