Tough punishment for forging, selling COVID-19 vaccination cards – authorities warn

…as 2 more COVID-19 fatalities, 62 new cases recorded

With the new COVID-19 measures seeing widespread restrictions for unvaccinated persons in Guyana, health authorities are now investigating reports of individuals forging and selling the COVID-19 vaccination cards, warning of stern consequences for those involved.
This was revealed by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony during Wednesday’s update.
He reminded the public that in Section 240 of the Criminal Offences Act, Chapter 8:01, forgery is an offence and as such, warned of the penalties persons will face if they are caught forging the vaccination cards.
“… you can be prosecuted for forgery and the fine, if you’re found guilty of forgery, would be up to three years’ imprisonment. And if you forge a vaccination card, you will be liable to this type of punishment if caught. So, I want to encourage people: desist from such practices because when we catch you, you are going to feel the full brunt of the law,” the Health Minister declared.
He went on to say that the punishment, “… goes to the people who have access to the vaccination card and the people who are buying the vaccination card”.
Authorities were previously dealing with cases whereby unvaccinated persons were falsely trying to obtain vaccine cards by claiming that they had misplaced their original document.
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony disclosed that in addition to selling vaccination cards, persons are said to be forging information regarding the second dose on their official vaccine document.
“I’m not sure why they would forge second dose information, but as I have said before, [of] the three vaccines that we’re using, we have adequate first and second dose for AstraZeneca [and] Sinopharm… We’ve had a challenge with the Sputnik V, but, again, we have first dose available and we’re working to make sure that we get the second doses,” he explained.

Vaccination improvement
At the same time, however, Minister Anthony pointed out during Wednesday’s update that the previous day saw more than 1900 persons turning out for their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This, he said, was a significant improvement from prior days, and he encouraged more persons to follow suit.
Nevertheless, recent figures show that the total number of persons who have received their first dose in Guyana has increased to more than 254,000, that is 52.4 per cent of the adult population. Meanwhile, fully-vaccinated persons have exceeded 142,000 in numbers, which represents some 29.2 per cent of persons 18 years and older who got both shots.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that two more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus have died.
These now take the total number of deaths from the virus to 551.
The latest fatalities are two males – a 48-year-old and a 62-year-old, both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). They died on Tuesday while receiving care at a medical facility.
Additionally, some 62 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours according to the Health Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday.

With this, the total number of confirmed cases in the country has gone up to 22,705, but only 702 of these are currently active cases. These include 11 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 691 persons in isolation – 91 in institutional isolation and the other 600 persons in home isolation.
There are also two more persons in institutional quarantine.
To date, some 21,452 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 125 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana last year, approximately 229,885 persons have been tested and of that amount, 11,053 males and 11,652 females returned positive results.

New cases
A breakdown of the 62 new COVID-19 cases detected on Wednesday shows that one was from Region One (Barima-Waini), seven from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 31 cases from Demerara-Mahaica, five from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 14 from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and the remaining four cases from Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice).
Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) recorded no COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, according to Wednesday’s dashboard.
The rush to get vaccinated now comes in light of the new COVID-19 guidelines and measures issued for the month of August. These stipulate that only vaccinated persons will be allowed to access certain services and facilities such as going to the cinemas, restaurants, betting shops and casinos. Additionally, the new measures require that public transportation operators be vaccinated.
Government has already warned of stiff penalties for persons who breach these vaccination requirements. In the case of speedboat operators, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has since warned that they can lose their licences if they fail to comply with the new guideline.
Moreover, unvaccinated persons will not be allowed to access Government services unless they make an appointment.
Additionally, many Private Sector employers are now mandating that their unvaccinated employees submit regular PCR tests at their own expense.
Nevertheless, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures. (G8)