Official media reported that Chinese police have arrested more than 80 people who were making fake vaccines for COVID-19, as China races to vaccinate millions before the Lunar New Year holiday.

Since September, the gang has been bottling salt water in bottles and selling it as COVID-19 vaccines, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The agency added that the police raided several sites around Beijing and in several cities in the Jiangsu and Shandong regions in the east of the country, and seized "more than 3,000 fake Covid-19 vaccines."

He did not disclose the number of vaccines sold, but the police were able to track where they had arrived.

China is doing its best to develop homegrown vaccines to immunize 50 million people before the start of the Lunar New Year in mid-February.

Usually hundreds of millions travel on domestic trips, but the authorities are encouraging the Chinese this year to stay at home by imposing restrictions and giving incentives.

As China ramped up its vaccination campaign, authorities have repeatedly confirmed the safety and efficacy of its vaccine, despite not releasing any data on clinical trials.

The Chinese authorities approved the vaccine by the state-owned company Sinopharma for public use in December.

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