A doctor from Wallonia will be prosecuted for falsifying some 2,000 Covid Safe Tickets (CST) by encoding non-existent vaccinations into the system.
The major fraud was uncovered by Aviq, the Walloon government's Care and Health service after it found some irregularities in the encoding of vaccines by the doctor in question. Essentially, this involved altering patients' health passes to indicate they had been vaccinated when they were not.
"This is a breach of trust towards the people vaccinated and all the doctors who work hard in the vaccination centres," said Walloon Health Minister Christie Morreale, who revealed the incident on LN24.
"We had to react in a firm manner, we will not let this kind of practice pass. We will take legal action whenever necessary because this is irresponsible behaviour that puts lives at risk."
An investigation launched by the authorities found that the doctor was vaccinating an irregular number of people, including people who came from all over the region.
▶ 2000 faux CST suite à 2000 fausses vaccinations par un seul médecin wallon "L'AVIQ a détecté des anomalies dans l'encodage d'un médecin. Des vaccinations étranges partout en Wallonie" ⤵ pic.twitter.com/2lfLzLQxd5
— LN24 (@LesNews24) November 23, 2021
Morreale said the doctor will be prosecuted for forging and use of forgeries. Furthermore, he will lose his power to code vaccinations to create new CSTs. Meanwhile, those involved in the fraud have been informed that their CSTs are no longer valid.
From Monday 1 November, it is mandatory to present a CST, which proves that an individual has been fully vaccinated, recently tested negative or recovered from the virus in the past six months, to gain access to bars, restaurants, gyms and other establishments across the country.
