Development of the covid-19 vaccine black market

On the Internet it is easy to find a branch of offers regarding the sale of drugs. Unfortunately, many of them are illegal. It means that the medicines come from the so-called black market. The black market for Covid-19 vaccines is also fastly growing. The number of illegal vaccine ampoules has increased to such a scale that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recently had to warn Member States about pharmaceutical products which had been sold by unauthorised drug dealers. However, the demand for illegal medicines has always been high. In 2019 the Falsified Medicines Directive was introduced, which supposed to reduce the illegal chain of drug distribution. However, it is also crucial to introduce the educational measures on legal sources of drug supply and their protection against counterfeiting, so that the patient is well aware of how harmful it can be to buy such products (medicines or vaccines) on the black market.

Can Covid-19 vaccines offered on the black market might be dangerous for human health?

Due to a massive amount of Covid-19 vaccines on the black market, customers who buy them online or in any other way must be aware that they can never be 100% sure what the ampoule actually contains when it comes from an illegal source. To fight against it, all prescription medicines are delivered in safe packaging under the so-called Temper evidence, which makes it easy to identify if a particular medicinal product has not been opened before and, for example, replaced in a package. Access to protected medicines is possible only after the destruction or damage of such a device.

Serialization of Covid-19 vaccines ampoules - the ultimate black market weapon!

Pharmaceutical companies often use an additional protection to defend themselves against international drug counterfeiting. We are referring, of course, to the serialisation of medicines, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, which makes it possible to better control all drug sales channels. During the packaging process of products at high risk of counterfeiting – e.g. Covid-19 vaccines – such additional protection (2D matrix codes) are used as part of the serialisation process. Serialised pharmaceutical products can be easily verified and distinguished from the falsified products purchased on the black market. Due to this process, we are sure that only authentic, officially approved medicines go to the legal market.

Informational campaigns in the local society on drug safety

What has been highlighted in the introduction, patients need to be aware of what pharmaceutical products they can safely consume. That is actually the reason why our company provide informational campaigns in the local press and social media about the safety of medicines. We also create audiovisual materials for publication on social media. We believe that our social responsibility as a contract manufacturer of medicines is to carry out such information activities. Especially now when the black market for COVID vaccines is expanding.