Mexican prosecutors unsure if seized Russia coronavirus vaccines are real or fake

Mexican prosecutors on Wednesday said they are unsure whether a batch of more than 5,000 Russian Sputnik V vaccine doses that were seized last week are authentic.

Citing the attorney general’s office, The Associated Press reports that the Mexican government’s medical safety commission has yet to determine what was inside the more than 1,000 vials that were discovered aboard a private plane bound for Honduras.

Sputnik V claimed that the vaccines that were discovered were fake, but the AP notes that the Mexican head of customs later said they appeared to be genuine.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said in a statement on Thursday that it had determined the vaccines are fake, the AP reports.

Grupo Karims, a Honduran company, said in a statement that the vaccines seized by Mexican authorities were not intended for sale and were instead going to be given to its employees and their families for free. The company claims to have been looking for a way to help its employees who have been impacted by the pandemic, the AP reports.

The seven Honduran crew members and passengers who were aboard the private plane where the vials were found have not been detained, the AP reports, as they cannot be charged until the contents of the vials can be determined.

Mexico granted the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine emergency use authorization late last month, receiving its first shipment of 200,000 doses.

A recent trial of Sputnik V published in the British medical journal The Lancet found that it was safe and effective, with an efficacy rate of 91.6 percent.