Africa-Press – Zambia. The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority says it has intercepted and destroyed a consignment of ten thousand (10,000) doses of a suspected COVID 19 vaccine imported into the country without authorization.
On 2nd July 2021, the vaccine labelled as Hayat Vax [SARS-COV-2 Vaccine] (Vero Cell) inactivated, with batch number HV0025, was brought into the country by an importer named Chrismar Earthmoving Equipment, a company owned by Valden Findlay, a close associate of former President Edgar Lungu.
The consignment which was worth US$ 150, 000 was seized at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport by ZAMRA in conjunction with the Zambia Revenue Authority.
The named vaccine is unauthorized for use on the Zambian market as it is not registered by ZAMRA. In addition, the vaccine is not under the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL).
The WHO EUL procedure is one of the regulatory reliance mechanisms which ZAMRA utilizes, like other national regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, to consider COVID 19 vaccines for national use.
According to the documentation (Invoice) which was furnished to ZAMRA, the purported manufacturer of Hayat Vax vaccine is Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries while the selling entity is G42 Medications Trading LLC of the United Arab Emirates (Middle East).
In conducting the due diligence, ZAMRA had engaged Chrismar Earthmoving Equipment by guiding the importer that the following were required to import the COVID-19 vaccine:
The above requirements which were communicated to the importer in writing were not fulfilled. This followed a written notice by ZAMRA of seizure and destruction as the importer did not meet the legal requirements as stated above.
The notice was received by a representative of the procuring entity on 26th August 2021. In addition, a seizure form was signed by the said representative to show consent, and this was used to release the vaccine consignment to ZAMRA by ZRA on 27th August, 2021.
On the same day, the vaccines were destroyed by incineration method at the ZAMRA Incineration Compound. The procedural steps undertaken by ZAMRA to engage the importer, Chrismar Earthmoving Equipment, until when the vaccines were destroyed were routine.
In view of the said, the action carried out by ZAMRA was to ensure that the Zambian population is protected from the risk of using the unauthorized vaccine whose quality, safety and effectiveness was not guaranteed as the named importer failed to meet the regulatory requirements.
ZAMRA has since urged members of the public who intend to import COVID19 vaccines, including other medicines and allied substances, for use on the Zambian market to ensure that the right processes and procedures are followed in accordance with the Medicines and Allied Substances Act No. 3 of 2013 to avoid stringent regulatory and legal action.
