Forging and purchasing COVID-19 cards are crimes

IT IS CRIMINAL TO FORGE AND PURCHASE COVID-19 VACCINATION CARDS
and anyone caught will face the full force of the law warned Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony.
Months ago, www.aroundtheregions.com reported a number of unvaccinated persons were
acquiring the cards illegally to avoid actually taking the life-saving jab. Health ministry
authorities were at first reluctant to respond to queries from this media house. After persistence,
the ministry’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ms. Shabana Shaw, responded.

After numerous complaints about ongoing vaccination-cards fraud, this time at the country’s
apex healthcare institution, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), involving a
serving member of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), Anthony finally broke his silence when
police opened a probe into the missing documents.
“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…We have had a number of cases
that have been reported to us and we have called in the police to investigate those cases,” the
Anthony said then.
He reminded those with criminal intent there can be a lot of problems if unvaccinated persons
become ill, since they are not protected. He cautioned those involved are only fooling themselves
and contributing to a bigger problem.
“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,” the minister stressed.

“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,” Minister Anthony said.
He counselled unvaccinated persons to desist from purchasing the forged cards and get
inoculated.