Feds Bracing for Anticipated Surge of Fake COVID Vaccines

The U.S. government has launched a major effort to block the importation and sale of illegitimate coronavirus vaccines officials anticipate will flood the black market and dark web as people become desperate for the limited number of real vaccines.

“Based on current trends and through actionable intelligence, special agents anticipate that criminal organizations will continue to adapt and capitalize on public demand for access to vaccines and treatments as they are developed and approved,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations office said in an announcement this week. “With that, the agency expects a surge in illicit attempts to introduce counterfeit versions of approved vaccines into U.S. and global marketplaces.”

AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer have each announced largely successful results from vaccine tests but have yet to clear the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before millions of doses can go out. More than 20 million people in the United States are expected to be able to be vaccinated by Jan. 1, while more than 300 million others will have to wait until the spring when vaccines are more widely available.

Healthcare workers, essential employees, the elderly, and adults with preexisting conditions will have priority over the general public, which could prompt people to turn to online search results for the shots. Consumers who are not a high priority according to the government’s criteria could turn to the internet in search of the vaccine, just as millions did earlier this year when stores ran out of face masks, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper. But injecting a vaccine that has not been approved by the FDA could lead to serious health implications for unsuspecting consumers and wrongly affect how the public views vaccine results. (Read more from “Feds Bracing for Anticipated Surge of Fake COVID Vaccines” HERE)

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