The Guyana government has warned persons caught with forged coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination cards that they will face the full force of the law as it rolled out the immunization campaign for children ages 12 to 17.
“If you steal one of those cards then you can be charged for larceny, and there are specific penalties for that, jail terms and of course fines and so forth and then if you change the information that is on the card that is considered to be forgery,” Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony said.
“We have had a number of cases that have been reported to us and we have called in the police to investigate those cases.”
Earlier this week, police said they had arrested three men as they continue investigations into the alleged theft of several medical equipment and blank COVID-19 vaccination books from the Ministry of Health.
The police said a nurse attached to the Vreed-en-Hoop Health Centre became suspicious when two of the suspects approached her with blank COVID-19 books and requested that the books be stamped.
“She checked the said books and observed that they were all blank and knowing that the suspects were not supposed to be in possession of them, she immediately brought the issue to the attention of her supervisor who subsequently reported the matter to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station,” the police said in a statement. ,”
The Health Minister said that the ministry is working to have the issue addressed and that there can be a lot of problems if unvaccinated persons become ill, since they are not protected.
“We are very serious about this because if somebody is unvaccinated and they pay for a card, then that can lead to separate problems because if they get sick, and they present that card…we’ll have to go back and check to see whether or not they were actually vaccinated.
“Now if you are not vaccinated, why would you want to get a card? You’re only fooling yourself because you’re not going to be protected,” Dr. Anthony said, adding that unvaccinated persons will endanger the lives of those who have received the vaccine.
He said the ministry will continue to investigate the matter and persons involved will face the court.
“We can’t tolerate this kind of behaviour, forgery and stealing of cards and so forth. They’ll be dealt with by the police and the courts,” the Health Minister said, urging unvaccinated persons to desist from purchasing forged cards as they have a choice whether or not to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the government has started its COVID-19 immunization campaign for children with the authorities saying that the program also includes a sensitization exercise with both parents and students.
“Between the two ministries; Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, we will have that sensitization session, then we will do some vaccinations for students who would like to get vaccinated from Saints, but if there are any other persons from around the community who are interested in getting their vaccines tomorrow, they can come,” Dr. Anthony said.
He said that the vaccination schedule will also allow for working in schools ”but we will also work at some of our regular sites.”
On Tuesday, Guyana received 146,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the United States Government for immunization of the school population. The donation is part of a larger consignment of 5.5 million doses donated to CARICOM by the United States.
CMC
