COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates for Sale on the Dark Net
While the global roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations continues to accelerate, it’s worth remembering that only around 1% of the world’s population have received their full course of injections. Billions are still waiting for their first dose, which inevitably leads those people to question exactly when they will get it. Especially as plans are being made internationally to allow those that have been vaccinated, or can prove they have had a recent negative test, the freedom to travel to other countries, attend large-scale events, take a new job, and more. So there’s a strong and growing demand for vaccinations and test results because of the greater freedoms they will give to people. And of course, there will always be people who don’t want to wait for their official vaccination, or for an of...
Scammers are Selling Fake COVID-19 Vaccines for up to $1,200
Underground scammers are selling fake COVID-19 vaccines. The majority of sellers originated in France, Germany, the UK, and the USA, and the prices per dose range from $250 to $1,200, with an average cost of about $500. Scammers and buyers usually get in contact via encrypted messaging apps like Wickr and Telegram, while payments are requested in the form of cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin. The majority of these underground sellers have made between 100-500 transactions. With the information available to Kaspersky experts, it’s impossible to tell how many doses of the vaccine being advertised online are actual doses (many medical facilities have found themselves with leftover doses) and how many advertisements are a scam. “You can find just about anything on the Darknet, so it’s not surp...
AstraZeneca Vaccine Only ‘Minimally Effective’ Against South African COVID-19 Variant, says Researchers
Image sourced from TimesLIVE The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has proven ‘minimally effective’ against the South African variant, according to the Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) research unit. So far, South Africa has received one million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. In an official report, researchers from South Africa and the UK found that “viral neutralisation by sera induced by the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine against the B.1.351 coronavirus variant were substantially reduced when compared with the ‘original’ strain of the coronavirus”. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ec0.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ec0.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, Sarah Gilbert revealed that efforts are alrea...
Google Plans to Help Speed Up Delivery of Vaccines
Image sourced from Pymnts Google revealed that it will be giving $150 million to promote vaccine education and making it easier to find locally relevant COVID-19 information. The company is also going to use its technology to improve vaccine distribution. “The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on communities worldwide. While there is much uncertainty still ahead, the development of multiple safe vaccines in such a short time gives us reason for hope. Now the work begins to ensure that everyone can benefit from this triumph of scientific achievement, and quickly,” says Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. To aid in the distribution, Google Cloud will help healthcare organizations, retail pharmacies, logistics companies, and public sector institutions make use of innovative technol...
