Arrests Made Amid New Scare Over Fake HPV Vaccines

Custom officers on Friday said they had arrested the directer of a medical centre in Kwun Tong as well as a member of staff at the clinic, after seizing 76 boxes of counterfeit HPV vaccines.

Customs and the Health Department have been conducting a series of operations after receiving hundreds of complaints regarding fake vaccines this year, but this was their first discovery of fake jabs on the market.

The counterfeit vaccines were said to be worth HK$174,000 and officers were looking at where the products had come from and how many people could have already been given such jabs.

Customs said they also found 47 boxes of genuine vaccines at the clinic.

Kwan Kin-keung, from the department's Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, said patients who had asked a lot of questions were likely to have been given real jabs rather than the fake ones.

Meanwhile, Chief Pharmacist at the Department of Health, Lot Chan, said they were carrying out tests on the counterfeit vaccines.

He advised anyone who had received an HPV jab at the Harmony Medical Care Services clinic to go to their doctors if they feel unwell.

"Possibly, the problematic vaccines didn't contain active ingredients. So the vaccinations would not provide the protection expected," Chan said.

"The worst case scenario is the product may contain harmful substances which may cause safety issues. So we have to confirm or verify more information through an analysis."

Chan urged the public to turn to their family doctors for such vaccinations, adding that doctors in the city should only buy vaccines from licensed wholesalers.

In June, a clinic in Jordan closed down after two directors were arrested over a similar HPV vaccine scare. The centre insisted it had only used genuine products, but also said it was offering millions of dollars in refunds to customers.