After the favorable opinion of the European Medicines Agency for the vaccine Pfizer-bioNTech, France will begin its vaccination campaign this Sunday, December 27 and the first doses must be delivered in the coming days.
To ensure that everything goes smoothly, the storage and transport of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine have been placed under very close surveillance, according to information from our colleagues at Franceinfo. Indeed, the risks are numerous and the authorities fear theft, malicious acts, falsifications or even anti-vaccine activists.
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The routes and storage places kept secret
The routing of vaccines is particularly watched. This particular “commodity” is considered to be at risk, just like gold bars or banknotes, explains Franceinfo. Discretion is therefore the watchword. The routes of the trucks between the laboratory in Belgium and the storage locations in France are kept secret, they will be revealed at the last minute and will all be different each time.
The storage places are also kept secret. Depending on the risks, security will be “Adapted”, explained the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin to Franceinfo.
Companies transporting and storing vaccine doses will also see increased security. It is the prefects who will be in charge of protecting these places and will decide on the measures to be taken. The computer exchanges of these companies and the public service will be particularly monitored for fear of cyber attacks.
Interpol expects crime to rise
On Monday, Jürgen Stock, the leader of Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, said it expected a rise “Dramatic” crime during the delivery of doses of vaccines against Covid-19.
“We are going to witness thefts, break-ins of warehouses and attacks during the transport of vaccines”, he explained. He further expects a resurgence of corruption “In order to obtain the precious remedy more quickly”.
The international criminal police organization had already issued a “Global warning” in early December in the face of organized crime that behaves “Unprecedented opportunist and predator”, linked to the pandemic. Interpol has alerted states to the need to “Guarantee the security of the supply chain” but also “To identify illicit websites selling fake products”.
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