While the vaccination campaign in Germany has picked up speed in the second quarter of 2021, reports of counterfeit vaccines, vaccination certificates, and COVID-19 test results have also increased recently. In April, dozens of doses of allegedly the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine were confiscated in Poland and Mexico and subsequently proved to be merely a cosmetic substance. According to IAVCworld, the market for counterfeit vaccination certificates is also growing on the darknet. Recently, security experts discovered more than 1,200 pages of dubious offers. This is also problematic in view of the planned introduction of a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate, as the data on vaccinations that have already taken place should be transferrable from the paper version.

Advanced safety labeling for drugs, as well as digital and physical documents and products, can be used to minimize the health risks posed by counterfeit vaccines and increase confidence in the vaccination campaign.

Image: Nataliya Vaitkevich (Pexels)