BERLIN — A 60-year-old man allegedly got himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell counterfeit vaccination cards with real vaccine lot numbers to people who didn’t want to get vaccinated.
The man from the eastern German city of Magdeburg, whose name was withheld in accordance with German privacy rules, received up to 90 COVID-19 vaccinations at vaccination centers in the eastern state of Saxony during months until police caught him earlier this month, the German news agency DPA reported on Sunday.
The suspect was not arrested but is under investigation for unauthorized issuance of proof of vaccination and forgery of documents, reported DPA.
He was caught at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in Saxony when he showed up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine for the second day in a row. The police confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and initiated criminal proceedings.
It was not immediately clear what kind of impact the 90 injections of COVID-19 vaccines, which were of different brands, had on the man’s health.
The German police have carried out many raids in connection with the falsification of proof of vaccination in recent months. People who do not believe in COVID-19 refuse to be vaccinated in Germany, but at the same time they want to have the coveted passports that facilitate access to public life and to many places such as restaurants, theaters, swimming pools or workplaces.
Germany has seen a high number of infections for weeks, but many measures to control the pandemic ended on Friday. Masks are no longer required in grocery stores and most theaters, but are still required on public transportation.
Millions suffer from seasonal allergies amid the pandemic.
In most schools across the country, students no longer have to wear masks, prompting teachers’ associations to warn of potential class conflicts.
“Now there is a danger that, on the one hand, children who wear masks will be mocked as weak and overprotective by classmates or, on the other hand, pressure will be put on those who do not wear masks,” Heinz-Peter Meidinger, the president of the German Teachers Association, told DPA. He advocated a voluntary commitment by teachers and students to continue wearing masks in class and on school grounds, at least until the country has a two-week Easter vacation.
Health experts say the most recent wave of infections in Germany, caused by the omicron BA.2 subvariant, may have peaked.
Patients in the middle-aged group (in their thirties and fifties) had the highest prevalence of taste loss, with women more so than men. This according to researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center
On Sunday, the country’s disease control agency reported 74,053 new COVID-19 infections, down from a week ago, when the Robert Koch Institute recorded 11,224 daily infections. However, the number of reported infections is generally lower on weekends.
Overall, Germany has recorded 130,029 deaths from COVID-19.
–
