COVID19: Larnaca GP fake jab cards trial

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A Larnaca doctor accused of issuing fake COVID-19 vaccination cards will stand trial on 18 January before the Criminal Court.

The 53-year-old Larnaca cardiologist, also acting as a GP, was under investigation after evidence emerged; he handed out fake vaccination certificates for anti-vaxxers, two of whom later died from coronavirus.

He faces charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, forging and circulating forged documents, registration with false representations and falsifying files of the Health Insurance Organization.

Proceedings against the doctor were launched on Tuesday when a Larnaca court referred him for trial before the Criminal Court next month.

The Court ordered the 53-year-old to hand over his travel documents, his name was placed on the stop list, and he was granted €50,000 bail.

The case of the doctor allegedly issuing fake vaccination cards was first reported to authorities on 31 July by the father of a 41-year-old male COVID-19 patient treated at Famagusta General ICU.

The patient had to be intubated, with medical staff unable to save the man’s life.

It later emerged that he had told nursing staff and doctors that although he was registered as vaccinated, he had not received a COVID-19 jab.

The man appeared in the General Health System’s records as vaccinated by the Larnaca doctor.

A few days later, another COVID-19 male patient, aged 44, lost his life to coronavirus, despite holding a vaccination card.

The second man was also registered as vaccinated by the same doctor but admitted that he had received a fake vaccination card.

According to records, the two men were supposedly vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine at the doctor’s office.

Reportedly, the GP had vaccinated 102 of his patients with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Some 47 of his patients were called in for police questioning on suspicions that they had not received the jab.

And 26 of them agreed to undergo antibody testing, with results showing that seven did not have COVID-19 antibodies.

Cyprus police, however, cannot use these lab findings as it is scientifically difficult to prove that the people in question were not indeed vaccinated.

It is known that some people do not respond to vaccines.