Internationally, there is already a black market for covid vaccines and counterfeit products that pretend to be vaccines.

It is partly about a criminal production of fake vaccines and that legal vaccines are stolen.

There is a great risk that it will also reach Swedes who want to buy the products to get a vaccine before it is their turn, says Susanne Lundin, professor of ethnology at Lund University.

- If the desperation and fear of getting sick is big enough, I think many will do it.

You do not buy medicines because you think they are counterfeit, but because you think it is a product that you hope to protect, says Susanne Lundin.

Other medicines are bought in black

She draws parallels to drugs that are currently available on the black market and that are imported illegally to Sweden.

For example, preparations that are or constitute potency enhancers, diet pills, antidepressants or antibiotics.

- If we look at other medicines that circulate outside the established health care, many surveys have shown that people in Sweden buy it and are out on risky sites.

There are several problems with the action, in addition to contributing to criminal activity, it involves a great personal risk - in case of side effects you are not only without a medical and financial safety net, there is also a risk of infecting others in the belief that you are protected, says Susanne Lundin.

"Good at negotiating with themselves"

Her research group at Lund University has, through Sifo surveys, investigated how Swedes approach drugs that pretend to provide protection against covid-19, how they search online and if they are then on sites that may be illegal - who do not have it certified EU logo.

The latest survey conducted in January also asked questions about vaccines.

Having a principled position against criminal activities does not prevent people from thinking differently when it comes to their own private health.

- It can be compared to medical tourism, this is a kind of medical tourism that takes place digitally.

When it comes to everything from stem cell tourism to organ trade, you go into it for your own needs, maybe the person himself or his children are sick, says Susanne Lundin.

- Then the usual rationalities are set aside.

People are good at negotiating with themselves and finding legitimacy and rationality in what we do.