The black market for Covid vaccines and evidence of vaccination is developing as others tire of restrictions and are eager to return to normal. It is also motivated by the unequal distribution of vaccines, leaving behind many low- and middle-income countries (PRFIs). Fight the Fakes (FTF) Alliance, an agreement that seeks to combat the proliferation of inferior and counterfeit medicines, summarizes studies in this area, cite the Medical Product Quality Report – COVID-19 of the Drug Quality Research Group, Center for Tropical Medicine
[Note: Although the term “forgery” is commonly used, it is no longer the term it likes or politically correct. The terms they like are “lower” and “forged” (SF). ]
The scale of the challenge is enormous: 10% of medicines would be counterfeit Under WHO’s Global System for Monitoring and Surveillance of Low Quality and Counterfeit Medical Products, as of 2017, the percentage of counterfeit products as a percentage of reported products
Malaria 20%
Antibiotics 17
Anesthetics and painkillers 8. 5
Lifestyle (erectile, bodybuilding, diet) 8. 5
Cancer 7
Vaccines 2
Drug production is a global network, where active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can come from China, manufactured in India, packaged in some other country and shipped through Dubai, and then reconditioned and shipped to another country to merit exchange rates.
These many steps and this global remedy mean that there are many places where fraud can occur. Recent examples come with Mexico, which seized vials of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine destined for Honduras that were fake, according to a website, a Kremlin source said. that “the United States and its allies” were conspiring to “represent Sputnik V as useless and dangerous,” adding “causing] mass deaths, supposedly as a result of the use of the vaccine. “
In South Africa, fake Covid vaccines were reportedly manufactured in China and smuggled into the country. “I’ve never noticed such a dynamic scenario before,” Jurgen Stock, general secretary of Interpol (a foreign police group), told Time magazine, adding that the price is billions. Stock added: “Liquid gold in 2021 is the vaccine, and we’re already seeing that [vaccine source chains] are the goal. “
In the United States, Homeland Security seized more than $47 million in Covid-like illegal with 235 arrests last year. In February, three Baltimore men were arrested for creating a fraudulent website of Moderna, modernatx. shop, to defraud people. early acquisition of the vaccine at $30/dose, but never delivered a product.
WHO suggests that organized criminal networks are now targeting the drug and vaccine industry because it is relatively high, the threat of successful prosecution is low, and the consequences are mild.
Dr. Javier Guzmán, Technical Director, MTaPS Program, Health Management Sciences, told me about the need for GS1 standards, which are a “standardized global traceability system, from product production to patient treatment”. “GAVI will make this GS1 compliance mandatory until the end of this year. It is ok. . . However, there are some problems. The first is that it is only for supplies of global origin. This comes with nothing for locally manufactured supplies. “There are huge gaps in the safety of the chain of origin of all medicines produced in an unmarried country. In an interview, Guzman presses an interview that there is no regulatory scheme or political will in many countries to impose serious sanctions on criminals for counterfeit drugs. “Unless we don’t invest in systems locally, everything else is a Band-Aid. “
Ravi Sundaram, professor of computer science at Northeastern University, went further in an email interview: “The challenge is worse than Javier Guzmán says: he limits herself to malicious mafias and reluctant governments, but there is passive collusion in the primary technologies component (research, social media, advertising, e-commerce) to turn a blind eye to illicit sales , to limit its own distribution of benefits’.
Many of the risks are obvious: a user would possibly get sicker or die as a result of taking a useless drug for their illness. It is less transparent that counterfeit antibiotics can promote antibiotic resistance and fuel the spread of drug-resistant organisms in communities. .
Fake vaccines, by replacing a vaccine with normal salt water, for example, may not cause immediate harm, but could possibly lead to mistrust in the effectiveness of the vaccine. People will mistakenly assume that they are and that they have interaction in decy’s behaviors.
It can also damage global relations, as a country accuses of sabotaging its vaccine in the eyes of the public.
The Department of Justice provides common sense recommendations, such as consulting an authorized fitness professional for treatment.
– Buy COVID-19 vaccines or remedies online or at an online pharmacy.
– Ignore unsolicited donations for vaccines and miraculous remedies or cures.
– Respond to text messages, emails or calls about vaccines and treatments.
– Beware of ads for vaccines and remedies on social media.
There are a growing number of scams and fakes that mimic genuine ones accurately enough (such as the Modern case in Baltimore). Another in Massachusetts imitated the state’s vaccine dating website, which looked almost identical, but removed a letter, the “S,” related to vaccines. These sites are used for identity theft.
Phishing on those sites is a developing business. Checkpoint Security researchers discovered more than 1,200 classified ads for vaccines on the “darknet”, sold for up to $1,000 according to dosage. Fake vaccine certificates sell for $200 each. Each of those sites not only takes your money, but retrieves your identity keys, which can put you at risk later.
Fake passports and vaccination cards are likely to belong to a new craft industry, so others are asked not to share percentage images of their vaccination cards on social media.
The equitable distribution of vaccines would also likely slow down counterfeit medicines, which is a tension in poorer countries that do not have vaccines, unlike rich countries.
One of the disorders with those scams is that they not only harm people, but they harm us all. Until we generalize vaccine adoption and collective immunity, we will not prevent the spread of coronavirus and mutant strains will proliferate.
I am a specialist in infectious diseases and Resilience: the story of hope and triumph over the evil of a family and the conduct of clinical research, the essential guide
I am a specialist in infectious diseases and Resilience: the story of hope and triumph over the evil of a family and the conduct of clinical research, the essential consultant of the subject.