Vaccine supply under threat from theft and counterfeits

All actors in the global supply chain must be increasingly alert to a range of risks due to criminal activity targeting COVID-19 vaccine supply, according to international freight insurer and risk management specialist TT Club. 

Having warned of various threats to the COVID-19 vaccines supply chain late last year, TT Club is now reporting a spate of disruptions to effective distribution across the globe. From theft and illegal sale of authentic vaccines to counterfeiting, substitution with fake pharmaceuticals and contamination, it said the threats posed by criminals attempting to take advantage of this very high-value cargo, are widespread.

Mike Yarwood, TT Club’s MD for loss prevention, warned that the risks should not be under-estimated, commenting: “It is probable that the market for counterfeit pharmaceuticals is worth US$400 billion a year and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that up to 1 million people die annually from counterfeited drugs. The current and future supply chain challenge to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines, in all their forms, from various countries of production, will mean that these figures are likely to grow.  Multiple incidents have already been reported.”

TT Club cited one example in the Netherlands in which the consignee, upon opening the trailer doors of a full truck load of pharmaceutical products, was faced with ten male migrants who had been hiding in the trailer. The cargo was contaminated and destroyed, TT Club said. And in the UK, three arrests were made following the theft from a truck of COVID-19 lateral flow testing kits worth over UK£100,000, TT Club highlighted.

It said recently two counterfeiting organisations focusing on COVID-19 vaccines were successfully broken up. In one case, more than 3,000 saline filled vials were being sold as authentic vaccines and seized in Chinese police raids.

Another report noted that 400 vials, the equivalent of around 2,400 doses, were discovered as containing fake vaccine in a warehouse in Gauteng, South Africa. While in both cases, a quantity of counterfeit goods was seized and arrests made, it remains unclear what volume of fakes had already been manufactured and shipped, TT Club said. 

It also highlighted Latin America as the latest region to report extensive serious malpractice, noting: “In Mexico, a variety of Pfizer vaccines and others from three Chinese manufacturers – both genuine and counterfeit – have been offered for sale at up to US$1200 per dose.  Many have been subsequently administered. 

“And in Brazil, water-filled and empty syringes have been found on the black market.”

TT Club added that a range of COVID-19 vaccines have been posted for sale on the dark net, with the prices, in Bitcoin, ranging from US$250-300.

“There is no way to determine whether these vaccines are genuine, or even exist at all, placing potential users at huge risk,” the company noted.

It added: “As the WHO and altruistic charitable organisations such as the Gates Foundation, with its Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), strive to ramp up vaccine supply to the poorest nations, there needs to be appropriate investment in the security of the subsequent supply chains, maintaining the integrity of the cargo. Indeed, TT urges equal attention by all governmental agencies to the end-to-end vaccine supply chain to avert fatal undermining of the substantial R&D efforts globally.”

Yarwood concluded: “Should the responsibilities of the pharmaceutical companies and organisations funding the supply, end at the point of production and sale, leaving local governments to manage security through the supply chain? A degree of uncertainty will prevail and security effectiveness differ from region to region.

“Operators who are called upon to transport, store and deliver such vital supplies therefore must be super vigilant in guarding against loss through theft and the infiltration of fakes into the supply chain.”