Greek Doctor Fakes Vaccine Injections For Covid Deniers

A doctor working out of a hospital in Athens was allegedly caught trying to give his friends fake coronavirus inoculations in order for them to get vaccination certificates on Sunday.

The unnamed orthopaedic surgeon was working at “Asklipeio” Hospital in Voula, a suburb of Athens, when according to a nurse he pretended to vaccinate a patient against the coronavirus in order to issue them a vaccination certificate.

Fake vaccination certificate scandal in Athens

The president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN, Michalis Giannakos, speaking to iefimerida.gr, described the unbelievable scene that occurred in the Athenian hospital Sunday.

“The incident took place shortly after 4 on Sunday afternoon. The doctor went to the vaccination center of the hospital, where he had already been busy giving vaccinations to citizens, and asked the staff to vaccinate a specific group of five people around him,” alleges Giannakos.

The group was made up of three men and two women, who claimed that they were afraid to be injected by a different doctor.

“When he was performing the first vaccination, however, a nurse found that he deliberately spilled the liquid from the syringe without injecting it into the individual.

The nurse immediately informed the administration and it was indeed confirmed that the doctor intended to perform fake vaccinations so that his friends could get certificates,” continues Giannakos, describing the serious fraud that may have been attempted Sunday.

Both the doctor himself and the group of five of his friends are allegedly known to be against the coronavirus inoculation, with the doctor also seemingly being a covid denier despite having battled the illness himself.

“Its a shame. They thus undermine all the effort that is made. Fortunately, the hospital administration reacted immediately. They did not renew his contract, he ordered an urgent official enquiry, and the information has been shared with relevant authorities and a prosecutor,”  concluded Giannakos.

The doctor is now at large and authorities are still trying to locate him, as it seems he has tried to run away from his legal troubles. The charges he is facing include stealing and producing a fake vaccination certificate as well as violating coronavirus measures.

Amidst an increasingly bad environment

Epidemiologist Sotiris Tsiodras, who famously led the country through the worst of the pandemic, reportedly expressed his concern at increased case numbers in Attica, Crete, and the southern Aegean to Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday.

The epidemiologist seems to have predicted the huge rise in cases that the country would face the next day, Tuesday.

According to data, last week, cases of the coronavirus rose by 75% compared to the week before.

Mitsotakis himself warned that the Delta variant was already present in Greece, and could cause a significant surge in cases amongst those who have not yet received the vaccine.

“The Delta variant has already been identified in our country… we have already seen its presence, for example in Crete.”

“All those who are still unvaccinated, especially the most at-risk citizens, are at a greater risk to be infected and become very ill,” Mitsotakis stated Monday.