The dealers also stored the fake vaccines inappropriately in fridges that don’t meet cold chain requirements.
The National Drug Authority (NDA) with backing from the Uganda Police Force-UPF has impounded counterfeited Foot and Mouth disease vaccines worth Shillings 100million in an operation in Kampala.
NDA spokesperson, Abiaz Rwamwiri, says that the fake vaccines were found in Veterinary Shops in Container Village where up to 20,000 doses were recovered from sellers that are not qualified to handle such classified medicines.
Foot and Mouth Disease vaccines are solely procured and imported by the government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF). They are freely distributed through District Veterinary Offices. However, the six counterfeiters were found selling a bottle of 250ml with eighty doses at Shillings 300,000.
According to Rwamwiri, the suspects were fraudulently branding their products to mimic those that are distributed by government. Worse still, he says they were being kept under inappropriate conditions for vaccines which are supposed to be stored under specific temperatures.
“They were kept in a domestic refrigerator that had no temperature monitors or power backup and most of them were frozen which makes them ineffective even if they were genuine. Vaccines are very sensitive products that must be kept in controlled temperatures,” he explained.
He explained that none of the suspects had the qualifications to handle classified products in line with the National Drug Authority Policy and Authority Act Cap 206 section 13 (1).
Foot and mouth disease is very common in Uganda where it mostly affects cattle and pigs. As a control measure, animals are supposed to be vaccinated periodically to avoid the spread of the disease.
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