Calls for governments to secure vaccine supply chains are being made by freight insurer the TT Club as disruption of the maritime vaccine supply chain through theft of vaccines or counterfeit medications is now being reported from around the globe.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]The TT Club warns that with the high value of the vaccines they have become a target for criminal gangs looking to steal and sell the medication on the black market as well as producing counterfeit or fake pharmaceuticals that may be contaminated.
“The threats posed by criminals attempting to take advantage of this very high -value cargo, are widespread,” said Mike Yarwood, TT Club’s MD for loss prevention, who went on to warn, “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.”
With the rollout of vaccines through the Covax system to from the manufacturing centres in the US, Europe and India, mainly, there is a critical risk that these supply chains will be targeted by organised criminals.
In one case a Covid19 vaccine counterfeiting ring was found to be selling 3,000 vials of saline solution as genuine vaccine, in South Africa 2,400 doses of counterfeit vaccine were confiscated.
“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,” said Yarwood.
Theft and fake pharma are not the only concerns, however. “In the Netherlands, upon opening the trailer doors of a full truck load of pharmaceutical products, the consignee was faced with 10 male migrants who had been hiding in the trailer,” explained Yarwood.
TT Club said that as the World Health Organisation and other organisations ramp up vaccine supplies to the poorest nations, “there needs to be appropriate investment in the security of the subsequent supply chains, maintaining the integrity of the cargo.”
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