FDA is vigilant in protecting consumers against COVID-19 vaccine scams

During National Consumer Protection Week, FDA wants to alert people to fraud and misleading claims related to COVID-19. Judy McMeekin, PharmD, FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, says the Office of Regulatory Affairs within FDA’s Health Fraud Branch, as well as the agency’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) and the Office of Enforcement and Import Operations, cooperate with other government agencies to identify and stop medical product scams. For instance, agents at the OCI and partner agencies promptly investigated, charged, and obtained guilty pleas from a Georgia man and his company for selling misbranded drugs advertised to treat COVID-19. In another case, an OCI agent posed as a biotech expert to investigate a person claiming to have created a COVID-19 vaccine that he offered to inject in customers at a cost of $400-$1,000 each. Consumers should be aware that COVID-19 vaccines that gained FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization cannot be sold online and are freely distributed. The agency has so far uncovered nearly 1,300 fraudulent products, sent more than 160 warning letters, and issued more than 270 abuse complaints to domain registrars. It has also sent more than 290 requests to various marketplaces to remove listings for fraudulent COVID-19 products. Consumers and health care providers are encouraged to report websites and individuals suspected of selling fraudulent or unapproved products via a portal on FDA’s website.