New method developed to detect fake vaccines in supply chains

The global population is increasingly reliant on vaccines to maintain population health with billions of doses used annually in immunisation programs worldwide. However, a rise in substandard and falsified vaccines threaten global public health. Unfortunately, there is currently no global infrastructure in place to monitor supply chains using screening methods developed to identify ineffective vaccines. In this new study, researchers developed and validated a method that is able to distinguish authentic and falsified vaccines using instruments developed for identifying bacteria in hospital microbiology laboratories. This provides a reliable multi-component model which can differentiate authentic and falsified vaccines, and is not reliant on a single marker or chemical constituent.