Days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it has identified counterfeit versions of Covishield in South-East Asia and Africa, the Union Health Ministry issued a slew of guidelines to identify fake Covid-19 vaccines and ensure that they are not administered in India.
The note sent to the states has details on the label, colour and other details used by the vaccine manufacturer.
The vaccines currently being administered to Indian citizens include Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, and the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. To enable the optimum use of these and prevent the circulation of the fake ones, the authorities have put out some parameters to differentiate the original Covid-19 vaccine from the fake.
“It has been claimed that duplicate versions of the Covishield vaccine were sold in the country. The Indian government is probing this claim and will take action if it found any substance to the allegations,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said last month.
Mandaviya also said that three more vaccines for adults would be available in India soon including one from Zydus Cadila. The other two will be from Genova and Biological Evans.
COVISHIELD
- Label colour shade is dark green, as per approved art work while colour of the aluminium flip off seal is dark green.
- Brand name with trademark is mentioned on the original vaccine
- The lettering is printed in special white ink to be more clear and readable. The general trend is to keep white lettering in reverse and just print the solid color. The text font of the Generic name is in un-bold
- The SII logo is printed at a unique angle and position which can be only identified by a select few who are aware of the exact details
- The entire label has been given a special texture honeycomb effect which is visible only at a specific angle. To make it full proof, the honeycomb design has also been altered slightly at certain strategic locations
COVAXIN
- Invisible UV helix on label which is only visible under UV light
- Micro Text hidden in label claim Dots, which is written as COVAXIN
- Holographic effect has been given on COVAXIN
SPUTNIK V
- Imported products are from two different bulk manufacturing sites from Russia and hence, there are two different labels for both these sites. While all the information and design is the same, only the manufacturer name is different
- For all the imported products till now, the English label is only available on the front and back of the carton of 5 ampoule pack while for all other sides, including the primary label on the ampoule, is in Russian.
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