Honduras firm says seized vaccine was for employees

After Mexican customs officials found the package of the COVID-19 vaccines on a private plane last week, a local company said Tuesday that it had no intention of illegally bringing drugs into Honduras.

On Tuesday, 1,155 vials COVID-19 doses were found by the Mexican custom officers. That was a private package, in fact. The Honduran firm Grupo Karim has issued a statement that the vaccine was not intended to be sold in the country.

Several thousand of the vaccines were planned to disseminate for free among Grupo Karim’s employees and their families. The staff – 20,000 direct employees – had been hit hard by the novel pathogen and it was looking for a way to help them.

The illegally brought 1,155 vials contain more than 5,700 doses inside two coolers. The package was carefully packed with ice and sodas at the airport in Campeche. The crew and Honduran passengers were turned over to the Attorney General’s Office.

While the Mexican officials did not identify the doses as fake, the Russian Direct Investment Fund determined the jabs to be fake.