Vaccines ‘target for thieves’

SCOTTISH health boards fear organised-crime gangs will steal Covid vaccines from storage points or while they are being transported.

Concerns have also been raised about counterfeit coronavirus vaccines being sold on the black market.

Police Scotland, Scottish Government officials and health chiefs have issued advice on the security of the first doses. International crime agency Interpol warned vaccines are ‘liquid gold’, while a former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency said they could be stolen from health board storage units.

In a meeting held to discuss the rollout, Lynne Hamilton, public health programme director at NHS Tayside, said: ‘The security of the drug may be an issue as it may be seen as a commodity.’

Former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency Graeme Pearson told The Sunday Post: ‘Stock could be stolen in volume during the transit or storage process and redirected for transnational wholesale sales. At that level there are profits to be made.’

Jürgen Stock, the secretary general of Interpol, said: ‘High demand combined with a limited supply will make Covid-19 vaccines the equivalent of liquid gold to crime networks.’

The Scottish Government said: ‘Our flu vaccination and Covid-19 Vaccine programme board is considering how vaccines will be deployed. Discussions on security arrangements for vaccine supplies are ongoing.’