MOSCOW (Reuters) – Mexican authorities seized a group of counterfeit doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is responsible for exporting the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Earlier today, Mexican authorities seized a group of vaccines designed and packaged as Sputnik V,” the RDIF Sovereign Wealth Fund said.
” The analysis of the seized photos, including the design of containers and labels, indicates that it is a fake substance that has nothing to do with the original vaccine, ” the fund said in a statement. .
The first shipment of the Sputnik V vaccine – a 200,000-dose delivery – arrived in Mexico on February 23. It was approved by Mexican regulators for emergency use earlier last month.
The fake group of 5,775 doses was seized at the Campeche International Airport in Mexico, according to a government statement. It was en route to Honduras by private jet.
The images shared by the government hid the bottles, the labels of which contain spelling mistakes in Russian, between soft drink cans in a refrigerator.
(Reported by Polina Ivanova; edited by Alison Williams and Paul Simao)