Police in Jiangsu, Beijing and Shandong seized over 80 suspects and more than 3,000 doses of counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine in a recent joint operation against vaccine-related crimes, Xinhua reported on Monday.

The police found one of the ringleaders surnamed Kong and other suspects had made faked vaccines since September 2020 by injecting saline solution into the syringes, then sold them at high prices. The police also found out where those faked vaccines had gone.

The Ministry of Public Security recently deployed a national campaign to crack down on vaccine-related crimes to maintain order in the flow of research, development, production, circulation and use of vaccines.

It asked public security organs across the country to investigate crimes, including producing and selling faked vaccines, smuggling vaccines, illegally operating vaccine businesses and illegal medical practice.

The ministry added they would strengthen cooperation with other administrative supervisory departments to prevent such crimes in the future.