How can fraudulent Covid-19 vaccines be identified? Guidelines on Govt Issues

The debut of the vaccinations Covid-19 is nothing short of a godsend to the globe, but their fraudulent versions have become a concern for the public. The WHO has also expressed worry over the false version of Covid-19 vaccinations that has interfered with the goals of immunisation.

Recently, the WHO said that it has found duplicate versions of AstraZeneca/Oxford’s Covishield vaccines in South East Asia and Africa. As a result, the Central Government has issued guidelines for the state government to identify fake Covid vaccines available in the markets. At the moment, there are three vaccines against coronavirus in the Indian market–Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, and Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

COVISHIELD

• A vial bottle should have the following details-
• SII product label
• Brand name (Covishield) with trademark should be there
• The font of the generic name will be un-bold
• “(Recombinant)” would be mentioned below the generic name in the same font.
• CGS not for sale stamp
• There will be an SII logo on the adhesive side of the label.
• Label colour shade is dark green and the aluminum flip-off seal is dark green.

 COVAXIN

• Invisible UV helix (DNA like structure) on the label of the vial that will be visible under UV light
• Green foil effect in “X” of COVAXIN’s spelling
• Holographic effect on COVAXIN spelling

More than 68 crore Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in India so far. Of which, 26.99 crore first doses have been administered to individuals in the 18-44 age group, and 3.35 crore second doses in the same age group since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive on May 1.