Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel said the agency has launched an initiative designed to address fraudulent COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
The agency’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) initiated Operation Stolen Promise 2.0, which is designed to serve as the next phase of strategic efforts to identify and prevent the production, sale, and distribution of unapproved or unauthorized COVID-19 products and drugs.
“We are committed to protecting the American public and global supply chain from fraud related to COVID vaccines and treatments,” HSI Executive Associate Director Derek Benner said. “We will continue to use our broad legal authorities and longstanding relationships with domestic and international law enforcement agencies and private sector partners to address this emerging public health threat and will sustain our efforts to disrupt and dismantle criminal networks seeking to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Investigators maintain individuals and criminal networks are continuing to exploit the pandemic for illegal financial gains by implementing fraudulent schemes to source, produce, export, or sell fake vaccines and related products.
“Many people, both in government and in industry, are working hard to ensure that the vaccines are properly developed, and once approved, properly and efficiently distributed through a secure supply chain,” Steve Francis, director of ICE HSI’s Intellectual Property Rights Center, said. “From production to distribution, these vaccines will require a great level of care and technology along the way in order to ensure they will be effective when they reach the patient. The public should not accept anything from an unapproved source, as an unapproved source can never guarantee that the vaccine is legitimate or that it has been properly stored and transported.”