E-DRUG: Medical Product Quality Report: COVID-19 issues #7 - December 2020
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Dear colleagues,
The COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by a multitude of reports of
substandard and falsified (SF) medical products, ranging from personal
protective equipment (PPE) to diagnostic tests, medicines, and vaccines. In
response to this, we started a system for collecting, curating, and
visualizing information available in the public domain on quality concerns
related to COVID-19 medical products.
The Medical Product Quality Reports hold reports from scientific literature, public alerts/warnings, and lay press: https://www.iddo.org/mq/research/medical-product-quality-reports.
The seventh issue, covering the month of December 2020 is available now and
reports 37 different incidents of SF medical products from searches in
Google News. It is out at
https://www.iddo.org/document/medical-product-quality-report-covid-19-issues-issue-7-december-2020-main-text-plus
Reports on SF PPE remain frequent. Worryingly those PPE are often destined
for health care workers. Falsified and/or diverted COVID-19 vaccines were
reported in South Africa, Philippines and Brazil.
On the Dark Web many COVID-19 vaccines are being offered. National and international organisations have emphasized the public health threat of criminal activities related to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and other COVID-19 related supplies. We continue monitoring and data sharing and urge for much more international coordination to mitigate the risks.
Any remarks or additions to content are greatly appreciated (please write
to medicinequality@iddo.org). We would be delighted if you could
disseminate this information within your network.
Very best wishes,
Kerlijn Van Assche, Céline Caillet, Paul N Newton
Medicine Quality Research Group, Infectious Diseases Data
Observatory (IDDO) & Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU),
Centre for Tropical Medicine & Global Health, Nuffield Department of
Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Kerlijn Van Assche <kerlijn.vanassche@iddo.org>