Hundreds of Ugandans paid for fake coronavirus jabs in vaccination scam: health officials

The scammers charged at least 800 people between 80,000 and 500,000 Ugandan shillings (around US$25-US$120) for a fake shot, officials said

‘We have arrested two medical workers in the scam, and one medical doctor is on the run,’ said Dr Warren Naamara, director of a health services monitoring unit

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A woman receives a coronavirus vaccination at the Kololo airstrip in Kampala, Uganda. Photo: AP

Published: 4:09am, 22 Jul 2021Updated: 4:56am, 22 Jul 2021

At least 800 people in Uganda were given fake coronavirus vaccines – some injected with water – in a scam that involved “unscrupulous” doctors and health workers, government officials said on Wednesday.

The counterfeit jabs were administered over May and June during a deadly surge of the virus in the East African nation, when new infections soared to record highs of about 1,700 cases per day.

The fraudsters targeted people looking to pay for immunisation, including corporate employees, at a time when vaccines were in short supply, said Dr Warren Naamara, the director of a health services monitoring unit under the presidency.

“Some unscrupulous individuals with intentions of making money, duped members of the public into a fake Covid-19 vaccine exercise,” Dr Naamara told Agence France-Presse.

“We have arrested two medical workers in the scam, and one medical doctor is on the run.”

He said those conned into getting a fake vaccine – around 800 people – should not be alarmed as tests indicated the vials contained nothing dangerous.