On Friday, March 6, 2020, one day after South Africa registered its first confirmed case of covid-19, and a few weeks after Egypt became, on February 14, the first African country to register an infection, the Ugandan police arrested a traditional healer and his daughter in a village 120 kilometers east of Kampala. Police spokesman Fred Enang told the Ugandan newspaper New Vision: "They visited several families (...) telling them that they had discovered a vaccine against the disease... The victims of the fraud bought the vaccine at a price negotiated with the seller before getting it." .

A much more sinister incident occurred at a warehouse in Germiston, South Africa, on November 19, according to Mlunghisi Wondo, acting director of the regulatory compliance unit at the South African Medical Devices Regulatory Authority (Sahpra). Wondo says police followed a "suspicious shipment" from OR Tambo airport to a building in eastern Johannesburg. After opening “a lot of boxes”, they asked Sahpra for help. “Our agents got there and saw pre-filled syringes, with labels written in Chinese… The two people who were at the scene, the owner of the warehouse and the Chinese owner of the shipment, were arrested,” says Wondo. "We had clear indications that the contents of the boxes were going to be sold as real vaccines against covid-19." Days later, two other Chinese nationals were arrested. Currently, the four (three Chinese and a Zambian, owner of the warehouse) are free on bail and the police have not been able to clarify when charges will be brought against them.

According to Interpol, the fake vaccines had been promoted on a Chinese social network, WeChat, and had been imported from Singapore as "cosmetic injections". Wondo says that the police, in collaboration with Sahpra, “are still trying to find out if units have been distributed in the country. The risk now is that there are people who are injected with these [false] vaccines; we do not know what is in them, because they are still being analyzed at the National Control Laboratory, in Bloemfontain”.

On January 15, the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac) acknowledged that they are aware that false versions are circulating in the country. The general director of the agency, Mojisola Adeyeye, explained in a press conference: “The Nafdac asks citizens to be vigilant. The agency has not approved any vaccine against covid. Fake doses…could kill.”

And on January 31, a certain “Doctor H. Losho de Lagos”, who also advertises erotic toys, clothes and shoes, published the following tweet: “If you are interested in two doses of the covid vaccine at 50,000 each, contact with @ad_de_moles. AstraZeneca. It arrives in two weeks. We give you a card.”

These cases show that Africa is fertile ground for the distribution of counterfeit and stolen vaccines. And with the appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes covid-19), such as 501Y.V2, first identified in South Africa, immunizations against the new coronavirus will become a highly coveted commodity. , because at least for now those variants have proven to be more infectious than the original form of the virus. Some may also be able to escape the immunity induced by current vaccines, which increases fear - and despair - of being protected against such variants by new ones tailored and specific to them.

Statistics also show that the continent is extremely vulnerable to vaccine-related crime: A report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018 stated that between 2013 and 2017, almost half of the medicines that were counterfeit or of poor quality they had been found in sub-Saharan Africa, where regulations are weak, borders porous and the distribution of counterfeit pharmaceuticals is often not considered a crime, despite the harm they cause.

“We have found very toxic substances in counterfeit medicines. To begin with, they do not cure, but there are also cases of people dying from the product they have taken”, says Cyntia Genolet, deputy director of the African section at the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA for its acronym in English). ). The organization represents the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, including most of those that are manufacturing vaccines against covid-19.

The WHO report states that counterfeit malaria drugs alone cause up to 158,000 deaths a year in sub-Saharan Africa and that the global market for fake or substandard medicines could amount to nearly €170 billion, 10-15% of the total pharmaceutical market.

Unprepared for the counterfeit scam

In South Africa, one of the African countries most affected by the pandemic, the Department of Health states that at least 67% of a population of approximately 60 million people must be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. The immunization campaign in the country, which should have started with the AstraZeneca option, was temporarily suspended at the beginning of February, after having new preliminary data on the low efficacy of said vaccine in mild or severe cases of covid-19 caused by the new variant 501Y.V2.

The Department of Health announced that the country would carry out, instead of said massive campaign, an application study to compare the efficacy of three vaccines - Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and possibly AstraZeneca - against serious cases of covid-19 caused by the new variant. Severe cases of the virus lead to hospitalizations and deaths, and therefore protection against these is an important function of vaccines during the pandemic.

Days before the vaccination campaign began in the country, in mid-March, it was expected to be massive and full of challenges. “It will be on a large scale, and of unprecedented importance and complexity. Will there be crimes related to it? Probably. But I think we have bigger problems, like seeing how we are going to get the vaccine into the arms of millions of people, ”said Salim Abdool Karim, epidemiologist and co-chair of the ministerial scientific advisory committee on covid-19 in South Africa.

Abdool Karim, who also heads the organization in charge of HIV research, the Center for AIDS Research Program (Caprisa), adds: “The system that will regulate vaccines seems very strong; they say the safety around vaccines will be strong.” But never as much as in Europe or the United States, where almost all the entities involved in the distribution of vials, from airports to transport companies and manufacturers, have created work teams to guarantee their safety.

Companies have background checks on their staff; all vaccine boxes, which are kept in secret locations, carry GPS location detectors; some vials contain black light verification technology (markers that are visible only using ultraviolet-emitting equipment) to deter counterfeiting, and some companies are making fake shipments to throw off criminals.

But, for the most part, the African authorities, immersed in the negotiations to obtain the doses and prepare for the logistical nightmare of getting them to the population through huge territories and with transport routes in poor condition, sometimes non-existent, did not they are completely unprepared to protect these shipments, according to numerous sources interviewed, including police, criminal intelligence, customs and border officials, government officials and criminologists.

According to the most recent Worldometers population register mechanism, the African continent has almost 1.4 billion inhabitants. In an analysis published in late November last year, the WHO warned that "Africa is far from ready for the largest immunization campaign ever undertaken on the continent." The analysis calculated that, based on self-reports provided by all countries, Africa had an average score of 33% preparedness for the vaccination campaign against covid-19, well below the benchmark of 80% recommended by the organization. .

The WHO stated that less than half of Africa has established what are the “priority populations” for vaccination and what are the plans to reach these populations, and only 44% have established “coordination structures”. According to the report, only 24% had “adequate funding and resource plans,” a modest 17% had data collection and tracking tools ready, and only 12% had plans to communicate with communities to “establish trust.” and increase the demand for immunization.”

Maurice Ogbonnaya, a criminologist and former security analyst at the Abuja-based National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies of the Nigerian National Assembly, says it is precisely such shortcomings, "gaps" and disorganization that could allow criminal groups organized to introduce counterfeit vaccines into supply chains and also steal the real ones.

Why is Africa ripe for a black market for anticovid vaccines?

Inspired by a sister addicted to codeine, a drug traded illegally in Nigeria , Ruona Meyer spent more than a year infiltrating, disguised as a buyer, gangs dealing illegal drugs in West Africa. Her contribution, captured in the 2018 Grammy-winning documentary Sweet Codeine, led to several arrests and convictions, including that of a pharmaceutical company executive.

"In Africa we have all the necessary elements for a black market in vaccines to flourish," says Meyer. “The lack of resources, logistics and technical capacity will make mass immunization campaigns incredibly long. That gives organized crime the time and space to strategize, adapt to security measures, and get their products into supply chains. Poverty and official corruption, which are unfortunately widespread in Africa, make their job much easier.”

In the report on the investigation carried out in July 2020 on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the infiltration of organized crime in the legal economy and in illegal governance, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) states the following: “Although no country is completely immune to fraud, those with a high level of corruption are the most at risk of being affected”. Meyer adds that "it also doesn't help that in Africa the health workers, many of whom will be in charge of vaccine supplies, are very poorly paid... Of course, criminals will take advantage of this."

John-Patrick Broome, Interpol's criminal intelligence analyst in East Africa, notes that the mafias are "ideally situated" as they have "well-developed networks and methodologies" for smuggling counterfeit, substandard and stolen vaccines. “Illicit medicines are entering the East African market mainly through three key areas: lack of regulation, violent crime and corruption at different levels,” explains the former British Isles border officer. “East African organizations that are responsible for regulating legislation and policing around this form of crime are seen to lack the autonomy and skills to deal with illegal trade.”

Meyer adds that rising infections and deaths, and the third, even fourth, wave of Covid-19 could cause growing fear, further increasing the demand for vaccines. “In some phases, supplies will be low. This is the void that criminals will fill. We have already seen it in personal protective equipment (PPE) and in chloroquine, where criminal groups quite easily introduced their counterfeits into global supply chains.”

Demand for chloroquine, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune lupus erythematosus and also malaria, skyrocketed after a French microbiologist claimed, in March 2020, that it was "effective" in combating covid-19. And former US President Donald Trump also began promoting a form of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, as a possible cure, despite little evidence that the drug could treat or prevent Covid-19.

In the months that followed, the Voice of America reports, authorities in West and Central Africa seized large amounts of substandard and counterfeit chloroquine. Many of the tablets were compressed chalk. Police in Cameroon searched and closed down several drug factories that were producing fake chloroquine. There is also currently a high international demand for ivermectin, an antiparasitic, which is being recommended by part of the medical community for the prevention and treatment of covid-19, although there is no credible evidence to support these claims. However, illegal ivermectin is being seized around the world, including in South Africa.

Mafia groups between Europe and Africa

In a May 2020 report in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, attorneys Marius Schneider and Nora Ho Tu Nam, who advise some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies on intellectual property issues, warned of the possibility of that fake vaccines against covid-19 were being distributed on the continent.

“Why are we going to have a problem with vaccines? Well, it's very easy: because the demand will be high; access limited. And everyone will want their fix. And in that kind of situation, this vaccine is liquid gold, as some have called it, for these criminal groups. They will take advantage of the situation by stealing or counterfeiting them, ”says Schneider, former president of the anti-counterfeiting commission of the European Communities Trademark Association (ECTA, for its acronym in English).

The Belgian-born lawyer founded the IPVocate Africa law firm in Mauritius in 2012 to focus on the “seriously neglected” areas of protection, management and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Africa. On occasion, Schneider's firm coordinates searches with law enforcement agencies to locate counterfeits and represents pharmaceutical multinationals in court cases.

“We have seen examples of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) being involved in the distribution of these [counterfeit] vaccines. These NGOs had the mission of distributing real vaccines to the population. Employees on the ground in African countries were implicated in vaccine trafficking,” he says.

The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science estimates that global spending on pharmaceuticals in 2019 amounted to €1 trillion. The institute forecasts that the global pharmaceutical market will exceed €1.25 trillion by 2023. Where there is a lot of money, there is a lot of crime, says Ho Tu Nam.

In September 2015, a British court sentenced two former United Nations (UN) advisers to jail for rigging an emergency drug contract between a Danish pharmaceutical company and government authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Guido Bakker and Sijbrandus Scheffer accepted a bribe of 650,000 pounds sterling (about 750,000 euros) to guarantee a tender of 66 million pounds, almost 77 million euros.

“Organized crime groups have always been interested in pharmaceuticals because of their high profit margins and low risks,” says Mark Micallef, director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime observatory in North Africa. and the Sahel. “They move to where they make the highest profit at any given time and therefore it is quite clear that they will be involved in any way possible in the supply of vaccines.”

Schneider has dedicated a good part of his professional life to organized crime. In the 2000s he was involved in the famous Gomorrah investigation that exposed the sale of counterfeit power tools in Europe, and brought down several figures in the Neapolitan Camorra. "The Camorra had established the production of tools in China," recalls Schneider.

The United Nations calculated in a 2019 report that 75% of counterfeit and substandard medicines sold in the world come from China, Africa's largest trading partner, and India, with which the continent also maintains close relations. . The world's largest vaccine producer, India's Serum Institute, is already making Covid vaccines for drugmaker AstraZeneca, and China has at least three candidate vaccines, two of which are already being distributed.

The UNODC points out that the Italian Mafia, and in particular the Sicilian Mafia, has been trafficking counterfeit, substandard and stolen pharmaceuticals, mostly from Asia, for decades. A UK police investigator, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to report to the media, commented in early December: "The Mafia is moving illegal vaccines across Europe." He also confirmed that links had been established between these mafia groups and "criminal gangs from Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt and the Ivory Coast." The Camorra, for example, has also entered South Africa. In 2014, five Italians were arrested in Port Elizabeth and charged with trying to sell several million rand worth of counterfeit power tools, IOL reports.

The routes of tramadol

Sources from international crime organizations believe that Africa's strong commercial ties with China and India will allow criminals to introduce counterfeit vaccine shipments into supply chains. AstraZeneca's million vaccines delivered to South Africa on February 1 came from India, manufactured by the Serum Institute. The following Sunday, the Department of Health also announced that South Africa had started talks with a Chinese company, Sinopharm, to buy anticovid vaccines.

Bhekisisa (a health journalism organization based in South Africa) has spoken with an ex-trafficker of illegal drugs in West Africa, who is now assisting the authorities' investigations in that area. He assures that the mafias are "simply waiting for the chaos, desperation and lack of organization" in vaccination campaigns to distribute counterfeit doses or steal genuine ones. “They have their networks activated. They will use the same networks, the same corrupt officials that they are using (for other illegal products). They have the printers and packaging they need.”

Meyer maintains that "there have been cases in which pharmaceutical employees sell genuine drug containers to criminal groups."

The former trafficker speaks of a “well-established route for illegal tramadol [an analgesic]” between Nigeria and India “that is waiting to be activated by the (fake) vaccines.” He claims that there are links between “front companies in Nigeria and their partners in India, who will try to substitute Covid vaccines for tramadol, because they can make much more money. We are talking about a 1,000% increase in profits with the vaccine.” And he assures sarcastically: “I am sure that in more than one case the police and the Army are going to protect the bad [falsified or stolen] vaccines.”

Micallef collects information on counterfeit drug trafficking in North Africa through a network of 160 field monitors established in Algeria, Chad, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. "Counterfeit vaccines... I think there is a great danger that they will be marketed," says the analyst. “In the Maghreb itself, in territories as lacking in regulation as Libya, of course. But also in Tunisia and in some border areas of Egypt; a little less in Algeria, perhaps, but above all in the north of the Sahel”.

Micallef affirms that the mafias that traffic in counterfeit vaccines take advantage of gaps in health services, something that will be especially applicable to vaccines against covid-19, which will make it very difficult to control crime. “This form of trafficking… is taking advantage of a real need in the healthcare sector. And the fear is that, in the case of vaccines, a similar scenario could unfold where there is a shortage, especially in the border areas (of the Sahel), which are prey to criminal businesses trying to fill that gap.

In West Africa, the immunization campaign is coming at a time when regional governments, notably Nigeria, have been cracking down on trafficking in tramadol. Between June 1 and 19 last year, Nigeria's Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control seized more than $300 million worth of illegally imported drug containers. nairas (about 660,000 euros), according to Enact, an organization that works to combat organized crime in Africa.

According to the ex-trafficker, these crackdowns are providing criminal groups in the region with an additional incentive to switch to trafficking counterfeit anticovid-19 vaccines.

A senior Nigerian police official, who has asked to remain anonymous, claims that Indian criminals have been “changing the brands and names” of tramadol to import it into the country “as something innocuous… And there are concerns that they will do something similar with anti-Covid vaccines. ”.

Ogbonnaya says that many parallels can be drawn between the trafficking of tramadol in West Africa and the “likely” illicit trade in counterfeit and stolen coronavirus vaccines. “It all boils down to poor regulations by state regulatory agencies; it boils down to the corruption of those charged with the responsibility of ensuring that regulations are enforced. And it is also reduced to a total absence of a regulatory framework on a continental scale”.

Making it easier for criminals

The IFPMA supports “regulatory harmonization” in Africa, especially through the African Medicines Agency (AMA). According to a press release issued by the African Union in February last year, the AMA is "a specialized agency proposed by the African Union to facilitate the harmonization of medical regulation in all its member countries." The treaty on its creation was unanimously approved by the African Union in 2019, but so far only a minority of countries have ratified it.

"There are many elements that will increase Africa's vulnerability when vaccines are being distributed," says Genolet. "The weak regulatory system is also something that the WHO has detected," although the continent is not alone in this. According to a report by that organization, worldwide, only three out of 10 countries have drug regulatory bodies that function "according to acceptable quality criteria." “Many African countries completely lack systems [of functional drug regulatory agencies] like South Africa's Sahpra. That is very important to ensure that a medicine that enters a country is safe and also that what happens afterwards, once the medicine has entered the country, is controlled.”

The WHO states that there are 54 regulatory authorities for medical products (MRPAs) on the African continent, but “they have varying degrees of capacity”. Formally, it has only evaluated one ARPM from sub-Saharan Africa, that of Tanzania. In 2018, the organization gave the East African country a maturity level of 3, the second highest on the WHO scale.

Andy Gray, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Health Sciences, points out that previous WHO reports have not established which African ARPMs "were acceptable and which were not, so as not to offend political sensitivities, and the assessment has not been updated. Certainly the most mature are the South African, the Zimbabwean, the Kenyan, the Tanzanian, the Ghanaian and the Nigerian.”

Gray, who is also part of the WHO Collaborating Center on Drug Policy and Evidence-Based Practice, adds: “There is some capacity in Uganda, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. I'm not so sure about Francophone countries, but you would expect some capacity in Senegal and Morocco, and maybe Cameroon, but the ties with France are closer, as is the reliance on products approved in that country." Gray believes that it “doesn't seem too far-fetched” to say that only 10% of African medicines regulators have “moderately developed capacity”, and that 90% have “little or no capacity”.

This vacuum in the regulation of medicines, says the WHO, leaves most of the continent exposed to unsafe medical products and "facilitates the proliferation of medical products of poor quality, adulterated, mislabeled and falsified." Genolet says the lack of regulation makes medical supply chains in Africa "very porous." This means that there is limited control of the supply chain. When there are many middlemen involved, and borders that are not always controlled, it is easy to move counterfeit medicines from one country to another. "Even South Africa, which has one of the best [drug] regulatory systems on the continent, has thousands of miles of uncontrolled borders."

But Sahpra's Mlungisi Wondo stresses: “Our procedures will block poor quality or falsified vaccines at points of entry. We have very strict controls.” He explains that the vials could enter the country at four points, depending on their origin: Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth (all by sea and air) and Johannesburg (air). “Medications cannot enter the country [legally] without going through one of those points. And in them we have customs and port health agents who are trained to evaluate the medicines that come in,” says Wondo.

However, this assessment merely refers to the actual appearance of the shipment, in terms of labeling, relevant registration numbers, and accompanying documentation. “If the product registration certificate is in order, it is delivered to the pharmaceutical company that will finally transfer it to the market. Those who do not meet the registration requirements are referred by the authorities to Sahpra to continue the investigation,” says Wondo, who acknowledges that sometimes poor-quality pharmaceutical products “sneak in” through controls.

“It can be contraband, in which a false declaration is presented that it contains, for example, clothing, and perhaps in the middle of the container they include those boxes of medicines. So those can get through, because of the false statement. But with the help of South African drug agency inspectors and police services, we eventually found the fakes inside the country."

The real challenge in South Africa will be in the theft of vaccines

Gray explains that South Africa has a reputation for a secure drug supply chain. But he adds that because Sahpra does not proactively sample the market, and relies on good manufacturing practices from pharmaceutical companies and "surveillance" from their forensic units, it could be missing some "issues." .

“If our drugs go to neighboring countries, we don't know if someone is bringing counterfeit versions into those countries; we do not know. Are drugs other than what we expect to find arriving at our counters? We have not detected any, but it is not impossible that it is happening, ”says Gray.

Many of the vaccines for South Africa are expected to be made by the Serum Institute in India, contracted by the COVAX initiative to make vaccines for developing countries. “The Serum Institute has been approved by the WHO to make the vaccines, so we know they will make good quality products,” says Wondo.

The institute is recognized worldwide as a safe pharmaceutical manufacturing entity. But, as Ho Tu Nam points out, “drugs from all manufacturers have been counterfeited throughout the world; no one is immune.”

Wondo responde: “Se comprobará cada lote de vacunas que llegue a Sudáfrica. Lo haremos nosotros o países aliados de confianza. Las vacunas [falsificadas] no entrarán en nuestros sistemas. Mantendremos la seguridad de nuestra población”.

Aunque Gray opina que Sudáfrica es “vulnerable en algunos aspectos” a las vacunas falsificadas y que “eludir a los actores normales” en la cadena de suministro representa “una oportunidad muy buena de introducir un producto falsificado en el mercado”, está convencido, igual que Abdool Karim, de que el país tendrá “problemas mucho más graves” a los que enfrentarse, como el transporte y la distribución de dosis. Sin embargo, cree que Sudáfrica corre el riesgo de padecer robos de vacunas.

“Pienso que somos mucho más vulnerables de lo que creemos”, señala Gray. “Ciertamente hemos sufrido robos en los depósitos provinciales y se producen muchos robos en los hospitales. De hecho, hemos tenido problemas con el robo a demanda, en el que la gente llama a un miembro del personal y le despachan una caja de medicinas”.

Los posibles problemas de seguridad para los viales

En Sudáfrica, como en otros muchos países del continente, las inoculaciones tienen lugar en hospitales y clínicas públicos y privados, así como en farmacias, unidades móviles y lugares de trabajo. Podría haber también espacios más amplios que permitieran vacunar a un número mayor de personas en menos tiempo. Gray opina que estos lugares de administración de las vacunas son los puntos más vulnerables de la cadena de distribución, porque están sometidos a menor vigilancia que los cargamentos.

Meyer señala que esto será así en todo el continente. “Confío en que la Unión Africana introducirá vacunas verdaderas y verificadas en África. Después de los problemas iniciales con los EPI falsos, ha hecho un gran trabajo a la hora de suministrar estos materiales. El problema que vamos a tener en África van a ser los distribuidores; en este caso, los ministerios de sanidad, los pequeños centros de atención primaria que reciben el material del ministerio de sanidad y más abajo en la línea de distribución”.

“Ahí es donde vamos a tener problemas con la seguridad del almacenamiento; en la mayor parte de África no hay instalaciones de almacenamiento superseguras. Ahí es donde podríamos tener gente que robe las vacunas, o que pudiera adulterar el contenido de los viales. De la misma forma que alguien podría llevar kilos de cocaína pura y mezclarla con todo tipo de cosas para obtener mayor beneficio”.

Broome, de Interpol, afirma que, en África oriental, la pandemia ha provocado un aumento de los ataques de los delincuentes a los profesionales médicos “debido a la percepción de que estos tienen acceso a medicamentos con gran demanda en la región. Han atracado a médicos a punta de pistola en la creencia de que tienen este acceso. Los grupos del crimen organizado han intentado aprovecharse también de los profesionales médicos corruptos”.

Abdool Karim está seguro de que se producirán “algunos” robos en relación con la campaña de vacunación en Sudáfrica. Pero añade: “No veo realmente cómo van a robar vacunas y venderlas en el mercado negro. Si lo hacen, será a un nicho de población muy pequeño, de ricos que quieran saltarse la fila. Porque todo el mundo va a recibir la vacuna; el Gobierno se la dará gratis a todos”.

Aumentar la oferta para frenar la delincuencia

Pero gratis o no, remacha Meyer, si las vacunas escasean y las infecciones y los fallecimientos continúan, la demanda se “disparará” y “se abrirá la puerta” al robo ya la inserción de vacunas falsificadas y de calidad deficiente en la cadena de suministro.

“Para frenar la delincuencia relacionada con los narcóticos, cortas la oferta. Pero en el caso de las vacunas habrá que hacer lo contrario: para eliminar la delincuencia relacionada con ellas, tendremos que aumentar la oferta. Cuantas más inmunizaciones legítimas haya en el mercado, menos margen tendrán los delincuentes, ya que habrá menos demanda para sus productos falsos o robados”.

Gray coincide, y hace referencia al comienzo de la pandemia, cuando se animaba a los sudafricanos a vacunarse de la gripe. Sin embargo, el Estado había comprado la mayor parte de las dosis para administrárselas a trabajadores de “alto riesgo” empleados en el sector público. “El sector privado tenía problemas para hacerse con existencias. Muchos pacientes telefoneaban a las farmacias; se decía que algunas de las cadenas tendían a tener acceso preferente y que las farmacias independientes no lograban acceder a ellas. Todo el mundo intentaba comprar en alguna parte”.

No es difícil imaginar que este escenario pudiera repetirse en alguna fase de la campaña de vacunación, remacha. “Es un caldo de cultivo perfecto para que un delincuente dé un paso al frente y diga “yo tengo existencias que se han caído del remolque de un camión, y puedo darte alguna”.

Esta es la segunda parte de una serie de tres reportajes dedicada a investigar la delincuencia organizada relacionada con la covid. La serie cuenta con el apoyo de una beca de la Iniciativa Global contra el Crimen Organizado Transnacional (GI-TOC). Puede leer el primer artículo aquí.

Artículo publicado en inglés originalmente en Bhekisisa, publicación sudafricana especializada en salud. Se puede consultar la newsletter Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism aquí.

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