How to identify fake COVID-19 vaccine: Check govt guidelines

New Delhi, Sep 05: Amid growing demand for COVID-19 vaccines, reports of counterfeit versions of vaccines circulating in the international market has raised concern among many.

In order to identify whether the vaccine is fake or genuine, the Centre has issued guidelines based on their label, colour and other details.

Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V - the three vaccines currently being used in the Indian market.

The development also comes on the close heels of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s warning over counterfeit/falsified Covishield vaccine being identified in the South-East Asia and Africa region of WHO.

Covishield

• The SII product's label shade in dark green
• The brand name with the trademark mentioned on the original vaccine and dark green aluminium flip-off seal.
• The font of the generic name is un-bold, (Recombinant) is printed at the end of the generic name, overprinted with CGS NOT FOR SALE.
• The SII logo is printed on the adhesive side of the label and at a unique angle
• The lettering is printed in special white ink to be more clear and readable.
• The entire label has been given a special texture honeycomb effect which is visible only at a specific angle.
• At strategic locations, the honeycomb design has been altered slightly

Covaxin

The Covaxin label include invisible UV helix (DNA-like structure) which is only visible under UV light

Micro text hidden in label claim dots, which is written as COVAXIN, green foil effect in X of "Covaxin" and holographic effect on COVAXIN.

Sputnik

As for Sputnik, 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 are 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, it is in Russian.