BELGIUM: DOCTOR ARRESTED FOR ISSUING 2,000 FORGED VACCINE CERTIFICATES

Tue 23 November 2021:

In the Belgian region of Wallonia, a doctor is accused of registering 2,000 false COVID-19 vaccinations.

The practitioner, who has not been identified, is being investigated on forgery and false documentation charges.

Authorities claim he lied about people’s vaccine status in order to help them avoid coronavirus-related restrictions.

Christie Morreale, Wallonia’s health minister, called it the “most serious” case of fraud in Belgium during the pandemic.

The doctor is accused of offering his services “to the four corners of Wallonia,” a French-speaking region of southern Belgium.

The doctor, who has not been named, will be prosecuted for handing out fake Covid Safe Tickets (CST), said Christie Morreale, the health minister for Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region.

Describing the case as a “health scandal,” she said the certificates have been revoked and people involved in the scam will also face legal action.

A CST proves that a person is fully vaccinated, tested negative for the virus in the last 48 hours or recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months.

Since the start of November, it is mandatory for people to present a CST to enter restaurants, cafes, bars, gyms and other places in Belgium.

On some occasions, he was reportedly paid for falsely certifying that patients had been vaccinated.

The alleged fraud was discovered when the Wallonia Agency for Quality Living noticed that the same doctor had issued two COVID-19 certificates at the same time in different places.

Morreale told RTBF that it was impossible for a single doctor to vaccinate 2,000 people in so many different areas.

“We realised that on anti-vax websites there were calls to buy false certificates,” she said, “It’s a vaccination fraud by a doctor who encoded an astronomical number of people.”

Currently, 75% of Belgian adults have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the country has recorded a severe rise in infections in recent days.

On Sunday, police clashed with so-called “freedom” demonstrators at a rally against increased health restrictions.

According to the most recent official data, between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19, the country saw an average of 15,448 new cases – a 54 percent increase from the previous seven days – and approximately 33 deaths per day.

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