LAHORE: Targeting those people who did not want to be vaccinated, it has emerged that there is a large-scale sale of fake vaccination certificates of several registered Covid vaccines in Pakistan.
Pakistan Today learnt that the counterfeiters have been sending mass marketing messages through various SMS portals and WhatsApp groups — wherein many of the messages went viral — claiming that anyone could get a National Database and Registration Authority-verified certificate after paying a certain amount to the fraudsters.
It was also claimed in the messages by the counterfeiters that if the buyer received the certificate from them after making the payments, he/she could send his/her CNIC number to the National Immunization Management System number, 1166, and the data would both only verify that he/she was vaccinated as well as allow the person to get the NADRA Covid-19 Certificate through its online portal.
It is pertinent to mention here that the fraudsters were only selling certificates and not vaccinations and this offer was for those who did not want to be vaccinated.
The counterfeiters were claiming that the CanSino vaccine certificate was available for Rs20,000 and the verification of a single-shot of the Sinovac vaccine was available for Rs15,000 while the double-shot was for Rs30,000.
Similarly, the counterfeiters were also claiming that they had a single-shot certificate of Sinopharm vaccine available for Rs15,000 while one could supposedly buy a double-shot certificate for Rs30,000.
Moreover, the scammers also purported that one could purchase a Moderna vaccine single-shot certificate for Rs15,000 and the double-shot version for Rs28,000.
The certificate of AstraZeneca vaccine single-shot was being sold for Rs17,000 and the double-shot was for Rs35,000. Similarly, Rs20,000 was charged for a Pfizer vaccine single-shot certificate and Rs30,000 for a double-shot certificate.
A source in the Punjab Health Department informed Pakistan Today that, despite the government’s extensive Covid-19 vaccination campaign, many people were still reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid.
“The general impression we have about vaccinations is that maybe any kind of vaccination leads to male infertility. The same impression was there about vaccines that work against polio,” the source said.
Moreover, the source explained that due to the specific vaccine requirements of certain countries, many travellers had avoided getting the Chinese vaccine and potentially could have fallen prey to the aforementioned certificate scam.
In response to a question on whether a government employee who has access to the NADRA portal could falsely certify someone, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid replied that it is not possible at all.
“Such questions are often asked by us whether the vaccination that the government has can be sold in the market by the government staff in collusion or a person who has not been vaccinated can be registered in the NADRA database,” she said.
“All the vaccinations we receive are counted and recorded, and there is a whole system that checks daily how many vaccinations have been used and how much is left in our stock,” she explained.
She also pointed out that all vaccination centres have large staffs, wherein there is a division of labour between staff members who register the people, those who check the blood pressure and fever, and those who administer the vaccine itself.
Without approval from all specific staff divisions, a person cannot be vaccinated or verified by NADRA that they have been vaccinated, she said.
When Pakistan Today contacted Col Tanveer, a key official of the National Command and Operation Center, he said that some counterfeiters have been arrested after receiving such complaints.
“The job of vaccination is to fight against the coronavirus and it is in the interest of the people to get it. We have also caught counterfeiters who were selling fake certificates, but there are other such frauds on our radar. People need to be vaccinated and protected from Xovid-19,” he stated.
