Fake Covid-19 Vaccines Pose New Threat in Africa

Counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines are posing a new threat in Africa, as reported Morningstar on Sunday.

Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control advised the public in January to be aware of reports that counterfeit vaccines were in circulation, and Kenya halted the import of COVID-19 vaccines by private companies in April, due to concerns that some of the doses could be counterfeit.

While there have not been any confirmed cases of counterfeit vaccines being administered at government vaccination sites, health officials worry that people may turn to street clinics or online to obtain vaccines.

"Our systems are not as strong as Western systems," said Craig Moffat, head of the governance, delivery and impact programme at not-for-profit Good Governance Africa, adding that "as long as our vaccination rollout lags, it creates this other avenue of illicit drugs."

Richard Chelin, senior researcher for ENACT, a partnership between the Institute for Security Studies and Interpol with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said "criminal syndicates already have a market that's flourishing in fake pharmaceuticals…COVID-19 is just an add-on to that."

Meanwhile, the availability of COVID-19 vaccines on the dark web has jumped from a few dozen vendors to around 1500 since December, according to Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies, who added that while it is unclear how many, if any, of the doses are making their way to Africa, "they are creating some kind of offering in every country."