China: Making Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Using Saline Solution To Profit

Chinese police have arrested more than 80 suspects who are believed to have made and sold fake COVID-19 vaccines in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong as well as Beijing City.

This is considered to be an extremely large-scale production and sale of fake vaccines. The group has been in operation since September 2020, making profits by using saline solutions and selling them at a high price.

According to the authorities, the suspects produced more than 3,000 doses of the fake COVID-19 vaccine. However, they didn’t reveal where the counterfeit products were sold.

A source close to a major Chinese vaccine maker said that the suspects may even have been planning to send the fake vaccines overseas.

Since the announcement of the national vaccination campaign last December, several Chinese cities including Shanghai have begun mass vaccinations ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people returned to their hometowns.

However, the authorities say that only certain groups of people at high risk of infection will receive the vaccine. These include frontline healthcare workers, transport staff, cold chain logistics staff. The plan is to soon vaccinate people over the age of 60.

So far, China’s pharmaceutical regulator has only approved one COVID-19 vaccine. The product is developed by the domestic pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. The vaccine is believed to be up to 79% effective in preventing the virus.

At the moment, China ranks second to the United States in terms of the used dosage of vaccines, according to Bloomberg. The country has administered about 24 million doses, equivalent to 1.71 doses per 100 people.

As more countries began their vaccination campaigns, Interpol has issued warnings of criminal organizations planning to enter and disrupt the supply chain.

The organization said that many criminal groups had begun advertising, selling, and supplying fake vaccines to the market. And this could pose a danger to public health.

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