HomeNewsBriefStolen Flu Vaccines Show Mexico's Black Market Adapted to Coronavirus Demand
BRIEF

Stolen Flu Vaccines Show Mexico's Black Market Adapted to Coronavirus Demand

CONTRABAND / 25 NOV 2020 BY ISAAC NORRIS EN

A flu vaccine in Mexico has become the latest drug to emerge on Latin America’s burgeoning black market medicine trade, highlighting how criminal groups are increasingly providing items believed to be of help against COVID-19.

On November 15, Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios — COFEPRIS) warned that a flu vaccine called Vaxigrip was being sold illegally online.

“The Vaxigrip vaccine manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur SA de CV is only distributed in the Public Sector, so it cannot be purchased in private pharmacies, private hospitals or via social media networks,” COFEPRIS announced.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Coronavirus and Organized Crime 

And the following day, on November 16, some 11,000 rapid COVID-19 tests were seized by customs agents at Abraham González airport in Ciudad Juárez, Vanguardia reported.

This comes just a month after over 10,000 doses of flu vaccine were stolen from a truck belonging to Mexico’s Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS). The theft came on the heels of the government’s announcement that there would be a scarcity of flu vaccines due to the pandemic, so the smugglers saw an opportunity.

Mexico’s medicinal black market is by no means a new phenomenon. In 2018, Mexico had the sixth-largest market for clandestine medication in the world, which comprises around eight million users and causes estimated annual losses of $150 million nationally.

InSight Crime Analysis

As Latin America continues to face dire shortages of critical medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic, the black market for medicine has reacted quickly.

This year, whenever a real or unproven remedy has been touted as a possible cure for COVID-19, it soon appeared on the black market. Last June in Brazil, shortly after President Jair Bolsonaro touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, smugglers were found bringing more than 3,000 doses illegally into Paraguay.

In September in Venezuela, the first drug shown to be effective against COVID-19, remdesivir, was booming on the black market with one doctor selling it for $800 a vial to patients at Ciudad Hospitalaria Enrique Tejera, a hospital in the city of Valencia.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Coronavirus and Organized Crime 

As hospitals became increasingly inundated, governments began putting off and canceling more and more operations and treatments for other diseases, including cancer. This provided another window of opportunity for more specific demands.

The most audacious example of this came in October in Mexico City when around 38,000 anti-cancer drugs were stolen from a warehouse, with gunmen assaulting staff and driving off in five vehicles. While these were soon found, the raid raised questions about how such complex drugs would even be administered.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

DRUG POLICY / 10 MAY 2023

Mexico's regulations concerning precursor chemicals is strong on paper, but rampant corruption means this is essentially meaningless.

EXTORTION / 13 JUL 2022

Scammers in Mexico have yet again evolved their modus operandi by using express credit apps to extort users and drain…

GULF CARTEL / 20 MAR 2023

The state of Tamaulipas may not top Mexico's violence rankings, but the Gulf Cartel's fragmentation is raising concerns.

About InSight Crime

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…