310 Citizens Received False Coronavirus Vaccination Certificates and False Negative PCR Test Results

Since the first round of vaccination against coronavirus, law enforcement agencies have repeatedly reported about fake vaccination certificates issued to citizens by various medical institutions.

It was later announced that the negative results of the PCR tests of foreigners entering Armenia were also being falsified.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also ordered administrative levers to be used for the proper implementation of the vaccination process. “To the National Security Service and the police: I don’t want to hear about false vaccinations any more. Arrest, detain. Those doctors who take the opportunity not to vaccinate people, to spoil the vaccine … very strict measures must be taken against them. I am appealing to the Prosecutor General, and also to our investigative bodies,” Pashinyan stated.

Fact Investigation Platform tried to summarize the statistics of violations of measures against coronavirus disease and actions taken against them.

The first case of issuing fake coronavirus vaccination certificates, which was reported by law enforcement, was recorded in August last year, when the surgeon of Yerevan Polyclinic No. 5 gave his acquaintance a document confirming the receipt of the first dose of coronavirus vaccine for money.

The next, more sensational statement was issued by the National Security Service in October, when six criminal cases were filed in connection with violations recorded in six medical institutions. Three people were arrested.

About 20 criminal cases on false vaccination certificates have been filed in the NSS and the police, 7 of which are in the police. The cases are at the preliminary investigation stage.

The criminal cases mainly concern the medical institutions of Yerevan, Shirak, Ararat, Gegharkunik regions, mainly the cases related to polyclinics.

The “beneficiaries” of the false vaccinations were not involved in the filed criminal cases. According to preliminary data, more than 310 people received false vaccination certificates or false-negative coronavirus test results.

Fact Investigation Platform has already addressed the cases of fining the businesses with employees who have not been vaccinated or did not submit a negative PCR test results. In general, employers were fined about 22 million 950 thousand AMD for these violations. The police informed Fact Investigation Platform that 28,260 people have been held administratively liable for violating the requirement to wear masks, and the total amount of the fines makes up 282 million 750 thousand drams.

Ani Avetisyan