Vaccination and the green pass
In Romania, the interest in getting vaccinated continues to decrease, unlike the interest in fake vaccine certificates.
Daniela Budu, 23.12.2021, 13:50
The number of Romanians who want to get immunized against Covid continues to drop, with less than 25 thousand people getting the jab in 24 hours. Consequently, the total number of vaccinated people goes up at a slow pace, with only 7.7 million Romanians fully vaccinated and almost 2 million who also received the booster jab. Authorities are trying to convince people go to vaccination centers and are considering introducing the green certificate at the workplace. The Government announced consultations on this topic with the civil society and the Social Democrat leader, Marcel Ciolacu, whose party initiated the draft law, said that authorities agreed on its adoption by year-end. Meanwhile, Romanians who do not believe in the effectiveness of vaccination, but want to enjoy the same rights as the immunized persons, are using illegal methods to win the status of vaccinated person and the green pass that gives them easy access to stores, restaurants, cinemas and theatre halls.
The high demand for fake documents is has been met with a wide offer. Nurses and other people who have access to the database are ready to release such documents for several hundred euros while anti-corruption prosecutors are trying to prevent that from happening. This week alone, two nurses at the vaccination centre of the balneal facility in Mangalia, south-eastern Romania, an employee with the Municipal Hospital in this Black Sea resort and another three persons have been detained and are investigated for having contributed to the issuing of more than 100 fake Covid digital certificates. The first official case of fake vaccination involving a general practitioner was reported in Romania at the beginning of September. Authorities had been conducting investigations ever since summer, and found that tens of thousands such fake documents may have been issued. Last month alone, authorities found that 3,500 false certificates were released at the Petea checkpoint in north-western Romania.
According to official data, over 1,300 people are being investigated and more than 500 criminal cases have been opened for fake documents. Interior Minister, Lucian Bode, says that Bucharest occupies an unwanted 1st place in Europe in this respect. However, other countries are having this problem as well. The French Interior Ministry has announced that the police found more than 182,000 fake Covid certificates issued in the country. In Italy, a leader of the anti-vaccine movement was arrested in Palermo, together with a nurse and another person, for using a fake Covid certificate. (EE)
