Prevention of Falsification of Children’s Vaccines and Sanctions Regarding the Production and Sale of Counterfeit Products

Every year the number of falsified vaccines increases. The use of falsified vaccines not only fails to fulfill the purpose of vaccination, but also harms the health of the entire population as a whole. The purpose of the research is to analyze the available tools to prevent the falsification of vaccines, including children's ones, as well as to search for mechanisms to minimize the risk of counterfeit products. The research used sociological, statistical, and comparative legal research methods. Based on an analysis of the available tools to combat vaccine counterfeiting, an assessment was made of possible changes to the legislation of the Russian Federation in order to mitigate the risks of the appearance of counterfeit products on the pharmaceutical market. Results. As a result of the research, the author concludes that counterfeit drugs, in particular vaccines, cause significant harm to children's health and the consequences of this harm are irreparable. The author believes that better work is needed in the field of identifying counterfeit medicines and mandatory toughening of penalties. For this purpose, it is necessary to introduce modern information technologies that make it possible to accurately and quickly record information about the production and further distribution of counterfeit medicines to the consumer.