They plan wave of attacks and looting of dose transport, says Interpol

The person responsible for Interpol, Jürgen Stock warned on Monday that there would be a ‘significant’ increase in crimes during transfer vaccinations against the coronavirus, which has already started in some countries.

“With the transfer of vaccines, crime will increase significantly,” he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

“We will attend theft, looting warehouses and attacks during the transport of vaccines, ”he said, hours before the meeting of the European regulatory body (EMA) to authorize the first vaccine in the European Union (EU).

The manager also planned an increase in corruption “to get the precious medicine as soon as possible.”

The vaccine from American laboratories Pfizer and German BioNTech has already received approval from 16 countries.

If the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorizes it on Monday, vaccinations in the EU they could start on Sunday next.

In Germany, for example, the federal police will be in charge of transporting vaccines, which will be stored in secret places.

The opinion of the EMA

The institution will offer a press conference around noon Monday so that the director of the EMA, Emer Cooke, as well as the heads of various departments, such as safety, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) and Vaccines, explain the result of the special meeting where the Pfizer drug was discussed.

The CHMP called the extraordinary meeting on Monday to conclude its analysis on the safety and efficacy of Pfizer’s vaccine, although it held a meeting scheduled for December 29, in case its experts need more time. .

The body, which controls and studies drugs used in European Union countries, analyzed thousands of pages with clinical and non-clinical information collected by the manufacturer and received by the EMA in real time since October, including data on the production process, preparation, dosage of the vaccine, as well as the results of laboratory tests on animals and people.

If it comes to a positive conclusion, the agency would give the green light to the European Commission to grant the conditional marketing license to Pfizer, which should arrive in a few days, allowing European countries to mobilize to launch their campaigns. marketing. vaccination on Sunday 27 December, as planned by Brussels.

The Amsterdam-based EMA is also subject to the official restrictions that apply in the Netherlands due to the high number of coronavirus infections, which means that all of its experts, including those from the CHMP, are working and holding their meetings. in a formal way. virtual in recent weeks.

The Netherlands unilaterally imposed on Sunday – although other European countries such as Germany and Belgium followed – a ban on passenger air and rail traffic with the United Kingdom due to the new strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, although virologists hope the Pfizer vaccine be just as efficient against the coronavirus.

The EMA is also expected to address the issue of the coronavirus mutation, as scientific evidence indicates that the new strain accelerates up to 70% more transmission of the virus, although it is not yet known whether or not it has an immediate effect on the effectiveness of this vaccine, which is already in use in the UK and the US.

AFP Y EFE

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