The Covid-19 pandemic – a torturous period for some, an endless source of money-making opportunities for others.
The pandemic has snuffed out many businesses and robbed people of their livelihoods, but it has also made a few individuals very rich (We’re all looking at you, Jeff Bezos).
Since the virus started spreading across the globe, opportunists have purchased face masks and hand sanitisers in bulk and sold them at obscene prices to make some extra dough.
It seems to have worked, as the two products have become the most sought-after items during the pandemic.
Now, there’s another item that residents all over the world desire to have: a Covid-19 vaccine.
The only problem is that most of us have to wait a bit before we can get it.
Lucky us, one group in China has devised an ingenious way to meet the demand abroad while making a profit: sell fake vaccines.
Over in China, People Are Making Fake COVID-19 Vaccine & Had Intended to Send Them Abroad
The Chinese police have arrested and detained more than 80 people and seized 3,000 fake doses of Covid-19 vaccine, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The suspects had apparently been selling these fake vaccines since at least September last year.
Police in Bejing and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong had conducted an operation and eventually tracked the places where the counterfeit vaccines had been produced and sold.
The suspects allegedly filled syringes with saline and sold them at high mark-up prices.
While the authorities suspect the offenders planned to send the vaccines abroad, no one knows who the intended recipients were.
I mean, who would buy a Covid-19 vaccine from a sketchy source online?
Fortunately, the authorities have managed to track all the doses down.
New Law Bans Fake Vaccines
In 2019, even before Covid-19 landed on their shores, China had introduced a new vaccine law that imposed heavy penalties on the production and sale of substandard or fake vaccines.
Now, those who are convicted of selling fake vaccines can be fined between 15 and 50 times the value of the product.
Meanwhile, those guilty of making or selling substandard vaccines face fines of 10 to 30 times the value.
Substandard Vaccines For Babies Sold in 2017
According to SCMP, the law was introduced after a string of safety scandals involving the pharmaceutical industry.
In one such case, a vaccine maker was found to have sold more than 250,000 substandard DPT vaccines.
The vaccine, which is designed to protect babies against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus, was given to babies as young as three months old.
The company was initially fined 3.4 million yuan (US$526,000), which was a measly sum for the major drug maker.
But after it was found to have falsified production data for its rabies vaccine the following year, it was slapped with a much heavier fine of 9.1 billion yuan.
Featured Image: angellodeco / Shutterstock.com
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