Check Point Research (CPR) report says the demand for fake test results and COVID-19 vaccine certificates in the black market has increased because of those who do not wish to be vaccinated. The study found that the fake vaccine market has expanded to 29 countries all over the world.
Recently the Maharashtra health department wrote a letter to the central government demanding the cancellation of certificates issued to victims of the Mumbai vaccination scam. In its letter, the Maharashtra government’s health department has asked the Centre to cancel CoWIN certificates of all people who received jabs during the fake vaccination drive that took place in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
India’s record of over 2.5 crore Covid vaccinations on September 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, several people who had not received their Covid shots somehow seem to have been issued vaccination certificates. Once data is deleted from the CoWIN site, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will then get all the victims vaccinated, said the Maharashtra government health department official.
Mukund Thale, a government-run Hospital employee said “In the first place no prime minister has celebrated his birthday with so much fanfare by getting attention with gifts by state governments that too making vaccination random, it’s sad that the lack of proper planning and right administration has failed to result in fudging of vaccine certificate on records just to please one person. Some dead people also received Vaccination certificates months after their death.”
Check Point Research (CPR) experts claim there were nearly 1,000 vendors of fake vaccine certificates as of August 10 on Telegram. Earlier these fake Covid certificates were available on Telegram for USD 85. However, now by paying a few thousand you can acquire it from hospitals.
“There should close watch on airports, people travelling by Domestic and international flights, there must be a use of artificial intelligence to keep vigilance government is preparing smart card but there is a lot of mistake in the registration of vaccination dates one should allow single vaccination to get entry,” Dr Sawant further added.
Dr Deepak Chaturvedi, “Any strict law (rule) brings opportunities to notorious brains. The same is happening with the rule of Compulsory Vaccination Certificate for a Travel pass. This has indeed opened up a black (Gray) market for the Fake vaccination certificate racket. This is going to harm as a double-edged sword. Think about somebody who is COVID positive and doesn’t get his/her RT-PCR test because of the possession of the fake vaccination certificate. Now this person when travels unrestricted due to the possession of a travel pass, will spread the infections to distant places. Similarly, somebody who is in possession of a fake vaccination certificate (and travel pass), when comes in contact with an infected passenger will also have a high chance of getting the infection. The probability of these two situations is very high and keeps on rising exponentially. The biggest matters of concern in this situation are the avoidant nature of the people, negligent nature of the government and mischievous brains of the conmen around. If any rule is made then it becomes the duty of the citizens to follow the rule and the responsibility of the government to get the rule implemented and executed. Provision for strict punishment should be there for the offenders including the people in possession of fake vaccination certificates and the people engaged in the business of issuing fake vaccination certificates. To prevent the pandemic to explode again as the third wave we all need to be consciously awaken.”
Dr Dixit further said, “The overall credibility of the national vaccination drive and the vaccination certificates issued thereof will take a huge hit. It is an impossible task for the government to “police” every person getting the vaccine. It is the responsibility of each and every citizen of the country, to be honest to themselves and their brethren. It is a problem of both demand and supply… Both parties must be penalised and punished.”
One way of staying safe from coronavirus is to get vaccinated and governments have been urging citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Several medical centres are now coming up with vaccine certificates to monitor who has been vaccinated, and who still needs to get a shot. However, the infamous black market seems to have found its grip on that too now.
As more and more countries are adopting vaccine certificates, the black market for fake vaccine certificates has increased ten times in the past few months.