KOLKATA: Koushik Das, a security guard at Kasba New Market, complained of a nagging pain in his right arm on Thursday afternoon, though it has been 10 days since he took the Covid vaccine at a camp organized by Debanjan Deb.
Mousumi Pal, a homemaker from Rajdanga Main Road, said she had been having a constant headache ever since she took the shot three days ago.
Deb reportedly held a 10-day vaccine drive in Kasba, besides several others, including one at City College on Amherst Street on June 18, where he allegedly supplied Sputnik V.
A TOI photographer who was present at the camp on June 18 at City College was barred from taking pictures of the vaccine vials.
After examining around 70 people who got their “vaccines” at the Kasba camp, Debasish Barui, a KMC medical officer at Borough XII, pointed out that most of the recipients were suffering from panic attack after police booked the organizer on the charge of holding fake vaccination camps.
But a KMC health department official at the headquarters made it clear the civic body had decided to extend all sorts of medical assistance to the recipients if they fell ill.
“If need be, we will organize medical camps in Kasba to take care of the recipients who might fall ill,” the official said.
Read AlsoMP, MLA try to decode the man behind the charade: Nothing about him looked amissDebanjan Deb, the man who arranged for fake vaccination camps —all of them free — across the city and suburbs, had perfected the look of a civil servant that had fooled everyone, from celebrities, politicians, college principals, policemen and corporate officials.Barui was sent to examine the health of the recipients and dispel doubts about the ill-effects of a fake vaccine.
“I interacted with around 70 recipients, most of whom showed signs of nervousness.
Some of them were scared about the effect of the liquid administered to them as the so-called vaccine is likely to be proved fake.
Sensing that such a behaviour was triggered by a panic attack, I assured them there was nothing to be worried about,” Barui told TOI.
Some who got their shots at the camp apparently felt a bit suspicious when they felt no side-effect after taking the shot.
Jhantu Das, owner of a garments shop at Kasba New Market, said, “I thought something was amiss as I did not have any of the signs of being vaccinated, like mild fever or pain in the arm.
I started doubting what was administered to me a week ago.” Read AlsoKolkata: Fake vaccination camp participants may’ve got antibiotic shotsHundreds of people who were “inoculated” at multiple fake vaccination camps organised by arrested fraudster Debanjan Deb might have been administered Amikacin Sulphate, an antibiotic.
The vials seized from Deb’s Kasba office were not Covishield, the KMC confirmed on Thursday..Students at City College were equally scared as they, too, had received their “vaccine’ from Deb’s camp.
Raja Bhattacharya, a former student, said, “The organizers told me I was administered Sputnik V.
Now that the man is found to be a fraud, I am feeling anxious.” Debjit Majumdar, a current student and a resident of Maniktala, was worried about how to get the real vaccine.
“More than my health, I am worried about how to get a real vaccine before the third wave hits,” he said.
According to the college authorities, there was no way they could see through Deb’s fraud.