Counterfeit COVID-2019 vaccines used by an international criminal network

Interpol, theorganisation international criminal police organization, announced today, Thursday March 4, 2021, the dismantling of an international criminal network counterfeiting COVID-19 vaccines. Thousands of counterfeit vaccine vials and surgical masks were confiscated from smugglers from South Africa and China.

As stated by the head of Interpol, this seizure represents only "the tip of the iceberg in terms of crime linked to the COVID-19 vaccine". It was added that the agency was also looking into fake vaccine scams targeting nursing homes and other care facilities.

The African continent, with its low pharmaceutical production, underdeveloped or permeable distribution channels and multiple stakeholders, is the first victim of trafficking counterfeit medicines and vaccines.

"Falsified, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine enrich the organised crime that thrives in Africa, even though they have fallen into the public domain and are produced at low manufacturing cost" shared Jean-Yves Ollivier, Founding Chairman of the Brazzaville Foundation, and Jean-Louis Bruguière, Advisory Board Member, on the Journal de l'Afrique.

Since July 2020, the Brazzaville Foundation has been working on defining the falsified drug supply chain to understand the causes of its vulnerability and to combat this scourge systemically. Look for an infographic soon to visualize its supply chain steps in the Foundation's five-year report.

Read the article published by Interpol here here.