Health officials in Bali say we shouldn’t get too freaked out about getting injected with “fake vaccines”.
The Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BBPOM) Denpasar says they’ve yet to find any counterfeit vaccines after investigating three different areas in Bali, including Klungkung, Karangasem, and Denpasar.
“The results from our search of private hospitals in Klungkung, Karangasem, and several Denpasar hospitals found no fake vaccines,” BBPOM Denpasar Head Endang Widowati told Tribun Bali on Saturday.
Widowati added that most vaccine distributors are located or based in Denpasar, so if the investigation didn’t find fake vaccines in Denpasar, it’s not likely the feared counterfeit vaccines are circulating in other parts of the island.
However, BBPOM will still continue to search other areas across the province Widowati said.
Thirteen people were reportedly arrested in relation to fake vaccines in the Jakarta area between June 16 and 23.
While the contents of the fake vaccines in circulations are judged not to be harmful by the Health Ministry, they could have potential to cause illness because of the unhygienic conditions that they are likely made in.
