Don't buy COVID-19 vaccines online, FDA tells public
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s Food and Drug Administration warned the public against buying COVID-19 vaccines online as legitimate shots could be accessed only through the government’s vaccination program.
In a briefing Tuesday, FDA Deputy Director General Oscar Gutierrez Jr. said vaccines sold online are “falsified and fake.”
“They should not patronized by anybody. Otherwise, they are only giving their money to the criminals,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said that fake vaccines could be adulterated or contaminated with hazardous substances that could cause severe disease, permanent disability or death. Fake vaccines are also “ineffective and give false sense of protection.”
“As of now, there are no fake vaccines in the Philippines yet that’s why we are trying to prevent their entry into our supply chain,” he said.
The FDA official also said the public should not get COVID-19 jabs from marketplaces or drug outlets. COVID-19 vaccines cannot be also purchased from private clinics for now because the regulatory agency only issued emergency use authorizations.
Only the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Gamaleya Research Institute are authorized for emergency use locally.
“As long as the public receives their vaccinations from DOH authorized vaccination site and the vaccines are given by licensed health practitioners, they can be confident they are receiving genuine vaccines,” Gutierrez said.
How to spot fake vaccines?
Gutierrez said that there are times “a laboratory test is the only way to identify the difference” between authentic and fake vaccines. But he enumerated ways to spot fake counterfeit COVID-19 shots.
- The vaccine is not correctly labelled or not labelled at all
- It has an out-of-date or missing expiry date
- It does not contain information on how to store the vaccine
- The packaging looks poorly constructed or appears to have been altered
- There are spelling or grammatical errors on the packaging or instructions
- The vial is dirty or scratched
- The cap has dents or is broken
- The rubber seal is already punctured
- For products that need to be diluted, the color changes or solution becomes cloudy.
- There also foreign matters inside the vial
The distribution, marketing and sale of any unregistered COVID-19 vaccine in the country is prohibited under the FDA Act of 2009.
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