BERLIN – A 60-year-old man is said to have vaccinated himself against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany to sell fake vaccination cards with batch numbers of real vaccines to people who do not want to get vaccinated themselves.
The man from the eastern German city of Magdeburg, whose name has not been released under German privacy regulations, is believed to have received up to 90 shots against COVID-19 at vaccination centers in state of Saxony, eastern Germany for months until the criminal police arrested him. him earlier this month, the German news agency dpa reported on Sunday.
The suspect has not been arrested but is being investigated for illegally issuing vaccination cards and forging documents, the dpa reported.
He was spotted at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in the state of Saxony when he arrived for a COVID-19 shot for the second day in a row. The police confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and started criminal proceedings.
It is not yet clear what kind of impact the approximately 90 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, of different brands, have on the man’s personal health.
German police have carried out several raids related to the forging of vaccination passports in recent months. Many people who deny COVID-19 refuse to be vaccinated in Germany, but at the same time want the coveted COVID-19 passport that gives access to public life and many places such as restaurants, theatres, swimming pools or workplace much easier.
Germany has seen a high number of infections for weeks, but many of the measures to govern the pandemic ended on Friday. Wearing a mask is no longer mandatory in grocery stores and most theaters but it is still mandatory on public transport.
In most schools across the country, students are also no longer required to wear masks, prompting the teachers union to warn of possible conflicts in the classroom.
Heinz-Peter Meidinger, president of the German Teachers’ Association, told dpa. He supported the voluntary commitment of teachers and students to continue wearing masks in classrooms and on school grounds, at least until the country enters a two-week Easter holiday.
Health experts say the most recent increase in infections in Germany – caused by the microvariable BA.2 Omicron – may have peaked.
On Sunday, the country’s disease control agency reported 74,053 new COVID-19 infections, less than a week ago, when the Robert Koch Institute registered 11,224 daily infections. Usually, however, the number of reported infections is lower on weekends.
Overall, Germany has recorded 130,029 deaths from COVID-19.
