Islamabad: Genuine flu vaccines are in short supply across the country, with products of leading multinational and Chinese manufacturers unavailable in the market, and spurious vaccines have flooded the gap, drug control officials said on Wednesday, as drug inspectors seized a heavy stock of suspected counterfeit vaccine in Lahore and arrested two people.
An official of the office of the Chief Drug Controller Punjab said the shortage extended to vaccines of every major supplier. Abbott’s and Sanofi’s flu vaccines, he said, were currently not available in the market. Abbott’s vaccine might not be supplied at all this year, while Sanofi’s might arrive only in limited quantity towards the end of November or in December.
He said Chinese vaccines, which would normally help fill the gap, were also unavailable. Those of Sinovac and Shenzhen Innovax, he said, had run out after their limited stocks were exhausted. With no genuine vaccine on pharmacy shelves from any of these makers, the market had become vulnerable to spurious products, he added.
The official said the shortage had been exploited by some elements who tried to flood the market with suspected counterfeit vaccine. In the Lahore case, he said, the suspected product was a fake of Influvac, Abbott’s flu vaccine.
Acting swiftly on intelligence, the drug inspectors of Lahore carried out a raid, during which two suspects were apprehended on the spot. A heavy stock of suspected counterfeit vaccine was seized from them, the official said, without giving the exact location, quantity or identities of the accused.
He said the investigation was continuing and that an FIR would be registered against the accused under the Drugs Act, 1976. The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and the seized stock will be tested to establish its exact nature. The suspected vaccine has been taken into custody, and the inquiry will also seek to establish where it came from and how it was meant to be sold.
The office has not said whether any of the suspected counterfeit vaccine reached pharmacies or patients before the raid, nor has it given an estimate of how widely such products might be in circulation elsewhere in the country.
Seasonal influenza vaccines are usually administered ahead of the winter months, when flu cases rise. They are generally recommended for high-risk groups, including the elderly, young children, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses. A shortage of genuine vaccine can push those who need protection towards unverified sources, which is the situation the drug authorities are trying to prevent.
Health experts say a counterfeit vaccine can be ineffective, leaving the recipient falsely believing they are protected. Depending on how it is made and stored, it can also be unsafe. Vaccines depend on a cold chain, meaning they must be kept at controlled temperatures from the point of manufacture to administration. A product that has been stored improperly can lose potency even when it is genuine, which is why drug regulators treat spurious vaccines as a public health threat.
The official urged the public to purchase flu vaccines only from licensed pharmacies. He advised buyers to confirm that the cold chain has been maintained, to check the batch number and to verify the manufacturer’s seal on the product. People who are offered a vaccine at an unusually low price, or who come across a product that looks suspicious, should report it to the drug authorities rather than use it, he said.
The official said the surveillance of the market by the drug inspectors would continue and that spurious and counterfeit medicines would not be tolerated. He commended the Lahore team for its prompt action on the intelligence and said the office would take further action against those found involved in the sale of such products.