Lammons KD. The October 2005 Fake Flu Vaccine Incident. J Biolaw Bus. 2007;10(4):40-43.

In October of 2005, Houston Texas was the site of a fake flu vaccine scam. Approximately 1400 persons were injected with a substance that was purported to be flu vaccine when in fact it was not. The investigation into this incident revealed that the victims had been injected with purified water and none of the victims suffered permanent harm. The owner of the company that gave the injections and a woman who posed as a nurse were charged and convicted of health care fraud. The owner of the company was also charged and convicted of misbranding or mislabeling of a drug. This article details the investigation and some of the lessons learned from the incident.