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Documentation related to the covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech was hacked this Wednesday in a cyber attack on the European Medicines Agency (EMA), announced the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
“It is important to note that neither BioNTech nor the Pfizer system were breached in this incident and we are not aware of any personal data that has been hacked,” a statement read.
“We are awaiting further information on AEM’s research and will react accordingly, in accordance with European legislation. Given critical public health considerations and the importance of transparency, we continue to provide clear evidence on all aspects of vaccine development and the regulatory process, ”the document reads.
This Wednesday, in The Hague, AEM denounced that it was the target of a “cyberattack” and announced the opening of an investigation, in collaboration with the Dutch police.
“AEM was the target of a cyber attack. The agency immediately opened a full investigation, in close cooperation with the police,” the European agency, based in Amsterdam since 2019, said in a statement following the UK’s departure from the European Union. (HUH).
The agency did not provide details on whether the incident affected ongoing tests to grant marketing authorization for vaccines for the new coronavirus developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna.
In the short note, AEM declined to provide further information while the investigation was ongoing.
The conditional authorization of the Pfizer / BionTech vaccine is scheduled for the 29th of this month at the latest, while in relation to Moderna it should be announced on January 12, 2021.
The agency is also reviewing vaccine developments at the University of Oxford, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
In the statement, AEM did not say when the attack occurred.
On the 2nd of this month, in Lyon, Interpol issued a global alert to its 194 member countries, including Portugal, alerting them to prepare for attacks by organized crime networks that will soon act on covid-19 vaccines.
The “orange warning” from Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) describes possible criminal activities such as counterfeiting, theft and illegal advertising of future vaccines against covid-19 and influenza, criminal behaviors that were already detected during the period pandemic with other products.
The warning also covers criminal examples in which the perpetrators advertise, sell and administer bogus vaccines.
With a series of covid-19 vaccines to be approved shortly and with global distribution, it is critical that countries ensure the security of the supply chain and identify illicit ‘websites’ selling counterfeit products, as they have already done. happened with the masks. and alcohol gel.
Good coordination between criminal police forces and the various health regulatory bodies, according to Interpol, will play a vital role in ensuring the safety of individuals and the well-being of communities in this pandemic period.
In addition to the dangers of ordering potentially fatal products, an analysis by Interpol’s CyberCrime Unit revealed that there are around 3,000 websites associated with online pharmacies suspected of selling illicit drugs and medical devices and that 1,700 contained cyber threats. like computer viruses.
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