Pfizer said Wednesday that it had tested and confirmed that purported doses of its coronavirus vaccine given in Mexico and Poland were in fact counterfeit. Roughly 80 people in Mexico had bought the fake preventative at $1,000 per dose, the company said. The shots had been stored in beer coolers and labeled with the name of the regional health secretary. The patients in both countries were unharmed. Fraudulent jabs had also been seized in Poland, with needles filled with an anti-wrinkle treatment. No patients there had received the fake treatment. Lev Kubiak, Pfizer’s global head of security, told The Wall Street Journal, “Everybody on the planet needs it. Many are desperate for it. We have a very limited supply, a supply that will increase as we ramp up and other companies enter the vaccine space. In the interim, there is a perfect opportunity for criminals.”
