Beware of Fake Vaccination Cards being sold for travel and work

[ASEAN NOW News]

CEBU CITY – The city government in Cebu City on Tuesday warned the public against persons peddling fake vaccination cards to be used as travel or work requirements.

 

Councilor Dave Tumulak said carrying a fake vaccination card would not serve a purpose because authorities can still find out the authenticity of the document that only the government can issue.

 

Young woman gets her vaccinaion (Reuters)

 

He stressed that faking the inoculation document will not help its holder and his family from being protected against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

 

“It is better that every LGU (local government unit) has to introduce security features like unique QR code of their vaccination cards issued to their vaccinees in order to avoid it being counterfeited by unscrupulous individuals,” Tumulak told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

 

The QR code, he said, will determine the name of the vaccinee, the vaccine brand administered, the date and time injected, and the date of registration.

 

To achieve a genuine figure of population protection and communal immunity against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the official said authorities must also be vigilant against the production of fake vaccination cards which presents a possibility to be patronized by those who do not want to be inoculated.

 

FORGED. Photos show the fake vaccination cards seized from Clifford Susana Arcilla, 46, at his printing shop on Sanciangko Street, Cebu City on Monday (August 30, 2021). Councilor Dave Tumulak on Tuesday warned residents against people who are offering fake vaccination cards for their travel or work requirements. (PNA photos by John Rey Saavedra)

 

Tumulak said elements of the Cebu City Police station 5 arrested on Monday afternoon Clifford Susana Arcilla, 46, of Borbajo St., Barangay Talamban, at a printing shop in Jill and Kate Studio, Coast Pacific Building on Sanciangko street, Kalibuhan village for peddling vaccination cards in public.

 

However, the police officer cannot say how much the card is being offered as the suspect refused to talk. 

 

After receiving a report that a printing shop is offering vaccination cards to the public for a fee, Maj. Kenneth Paul Albotra ordered his men to launch an entrapment. 

 

The police confiscated three vaccination cards, two of them are filled up while the other has no vaccinee’s data but with entry as to the time of the first dose as well as the brand of vaccine administered, the inoculation site, and the signature of the vaccinator.

 

They also seized the lamination machine and a roll of plastic lamination film.

 

Tumulak said he coordinated with Mandaue City administrator Ed Ybañez to verify the lot number written on the vaccination card found in Arcilla’s possession as it belongs to Mandaue City’s inoculation rollout.

 

The Mandaue City government, he said, is still investigating as to the owner of the vaccination card or the vaccine lot number. 

 

Arcilla will be charged with violation of falsification of public documents under Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code. (PNA)