A man allegedly had himself vaccinated against Covid-19 dozens of times in Germany so he could sell forged vaccine cards with real batch numbers to people not wanting to be inoculated.
The man, 60, from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, is accused of receiving up to 90 shots against Covid-19 at vaccination centres in the eastern state of Saxony for months until police caught him in April, the German news agency DPA reported on Sunday.
The suspect was not detained but is under investigation for unauthorised issuance of vaccination cards and document forgery, DPA reported.
He was caught at a centre in Eilenburg, Saxony, when he showed up for a Covid-19 vaccination for the second day in a row.
Police confiscated blank vaccination cards from him and started criminal proceedings.
It was not immediately clear what effect the about 90 Covid-19 shots, which were from different makers, had on the man’s health.
German police have conducted many raids in connection with forgery of vaccination passports in recent months.
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Many Covid-19 deniers refuse to be vaccinated in Germany, but want the passports that make access to public life and venues such as restaurants, theatres, swimming pools and workplaces much easier.
Germany has had high infection numbers for weeks, yet many measures to rein in the pandemic ended on Friday.
Wearing masks is no longer compulsory in grocery shops and most theatres, but it is still mandatory on public transport.
In most schools in Germany, pupils no longer have to wear masks, which has led teachers’ associations to warn of possible conflicts in class.
“There is now a danger that, on the one hand, children who wear masks will be teased by classmates as wimps and overprotective or, on the other hand, pressure will be exerted on non-mask wearers,” Heinz-Peter Meidinger, 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 starts a two-week Easter holiday.
Health experts say the most recent surge of infections in Germany, caused by the BA.2 Omicron subvariant, may have peaked.
On Sunday, the country’s disease control agency reported 74,053 new Covid-19 infections in one day, while less than a week ago it reported 111,224 daily infections.
Overall, Germany has registered 130,029 Covid-19 deaths.
