Uganda Investigates Suspected ‘Fake Vaccines’

Two companies in Uganda are being investigated over the supply of suspected fake Hepatitis B vaccines to private health facilities.

Uganda’s health ministry is quoted by the state-owned New Vision newspaper as saying there is a chance that the vaccines are genuine, but have had their labels changed.

According to the National Drug Authority (NDA), which is investigating alongside the health ministry, the products were found in eight hospitals and clinics across the capital Kampala, and the towns of Mbale, Entebbe and Mbarara.

At least one of the clinics identified has denied using the “fake vaccines”.

“Our services are to international standards… all medicines dispensed at our hospitals are rigorously pre-tested for authenticity and effectiveness,” a spokesman for Kampala’s Univic Medical Centre is quoted in the privately owned Daily Monitor as saying.

But the NDA says it saw the suspect vaccines when it visited that facility.

The Daily Monitor reports that the Anti-Counterfeit Network (ACN) Africa “has tasked government to explain the source of the fake Hepatitis B vaccines and how they were imported into the country.”

Source: BBC