Small vials labeled with “Vaccine” stickers are next to a medical syringe in front of the words “Coronavirus COVID-19” displayed in this illustration taken on April 10, 2020.
Given Ruvic | Reuters
The World Health Organization warned against counterfeit Covid-19 vaccines sold on the dark web during a news conference on Friday.
“We urge all people not to buy vaccines outside of government-administered vaccination programs. Any vaccine outside these programs can be inferior or counterfeit, with the potential to cause serious harm,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The senior WHO official said the group is also aware of reports of “criminal groups” reusing empty vaccine bottles and tampering with Covid’s vaccine supply chain.
“We urge the safe disposal or destruction of used and empty vaccine bottles to prevent them from being reused by criminal groups,” said Tedros. He asked countries and individuals to observe suspected vaccine sales and report them to national authorities. “The flow of information is essential for marking, mapping global threats and protecting confidence in vaccines,” he said.
WHO emphasized that any harm caused by counterfeit vaccines does not reflect the safety of genuine vaccines.
UK law enforcement cataloged more than 6,000 cases of Covid-related fraud worth £ 34.5 million ($ 48 million) last year, the BBC reported.
Americans lost $ 382 million in fraud linked to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Federal Trade Commission. More than 217,000 people have filed a Covid-related fraud report with the agency since January 2020.