Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Chinese police authorities seized 3,000 fake Covid-19 vaccines and made arrests of suspects in several cities. It turns out that this incident also occurred in several countries.
As reported South China Morning Post, Sunday (23/5) Interpol and other law enforcement-related groups warned of an increased risk of trafficking and counterfeiting vaccines because the coronavirus infects thousands of people every day and most countries have insufficient doses.
“This has created a level of despair around the world, and it means criminals will use their predatory parasitic mentality to make money out of fear,” said Stephen Kavanagh, executive director of Interpol’s police service.
He continued, if the profit is there and the launch program [vaksin] “seems to be stalled in certain countries, there is little doubt that criminals are currently trying to increase production of their fake vaccines,” he said.
It seems that the phenomenon of the fake vaccine crime syndicate has not only hit China.
Mexican authorities in February also arrested six people for selling the counterfeit Pfizer vaccine at a private clinic.
South African authorities also made several arrests earlier this year after finding more than 2,000 counterfeit doses in warehouses linked to the Chinese operation. Another scam in Poland involved fake Pfizer doses filled with anti-aging treatments according to a report at The Wall Street Journal.
Kavanagh also pointed to examples of small-scale laboratories in Southeast Asia producing counterfeit vaccines, and the migration of small bottles to South America. But he said Interpol, which shares crime data and coordinates between 194 member countries, has not seen any large-scale industrial production of fake doses in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
“The most important thing people have to do is rely on health authorities to access dosages,” says Kavanaugh.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said it was difficult to know the scale of such activity, but his office had advised the government about the potential for certain groups to make and sell counterfeit goods. vaccines, and real vaccine diversion from the legal supply chain.
“The Covid-19 vaccine industry is a multibillion dollar industry, probably one of the most valuable industries instantaneously, and everyone in the world wants to get a vaccine. So you can imagine that soon there will be criminals targeting ‘when we can get into this game. , “he said.
Douglas points to a black web marketplace, accessed via specialized software, where dosage lists purportedly from approved vaccine makers such as Pfizer, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson are easily accessible, selling anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars.
Kavanagh said fake vaccination documents and empty bottles of original doses for use in counterfeit products are also being sold online, which is of great concern to Interpol.
The organization works with pharmaceutical companies to share information about how they track, verify and deliver vaccines with police and health agencies so they can identify counterfeit or reused bottles.
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