According to the government, there are at least 200,000 fake Covid vaccination certificates in circulation, a figure they consider to be a substantial under-estimate.
The issue obtained public prominence last month when a mother in her 50s died in a hospital in Paris from Covid. The doctors could find no trace of antibodies, even though when she was admitted she presented a health certificate (pass sanitaire) attesting to a complete vaccination schedule.
It later transpired that she had obtained the vaccination certificate from a doctor in her city of Nice, who had provided it to her illegally, over the internet, for a sum of €200. The doctor concerned has claimed that is it a case of identity theft.
The hospital in Nice stated that around 30% of patients in intensive care for Covid had a fake Covid vaccination certificate.
Subsequent investigations by the authorities have found a network of counterfeit vaccination certificates, with several other doctors also claiming there had been an usurpation of their identity.
The police report that from the investigations so far carried out much of the illicit activity is taking place through social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.
There are now nearly 500 separate investigations taking place into the production and sale of fake certificates. The authorities are also investigating the use of false Covid-19 recovery certificates, as well as the fraudulent use of a QR code assigned to a third party. A number of these enquiries concern health professionals or administrative staff.
In one case in the Var, as a result of the unusually high level of vaccinations in the small town of Plan-de-la-Tour, a doctor is under investigation for issuing certificates without a record of an injection having been carried out. She is also suspected of having injected fake vaccins into her patients for financial gain.
Since the pass sanitaire was introduced the police have also issued nearly 2,000 fines against individuals who have lent their certificate to a third party.
However, the problem is not merely one of doctors who may be witting or unwitting accomplices, but weaknesses in the online health systems.
In a recent case, a 23 woman was able to obtain hundreds of fake certificates by retreiving the names and security details of dozens of doctors on the online booking service 'Doctorlib', confidential information that allowed her to enter the main public health insurance website (Ameli). By pretending to be a doctor, she administered a virtual dose of vaccine to her customers, thereby generating a Covid certificate. She sold the certificates for up to €100, yielding several thousand euros.
The avocat defending the woman stated that such were the weaknesses in the on-line systems "that a college student could have done the same very easily."
A new draft law is currently proceeding through the French parliament, which increases the fine for presenting or lending a certificate to a third party from €135 to €1,000.
Prime Minister Jean Castex stated that vaccination fraud: "is much more than a circumvention of the law [...] it is a deliberate act of endangering others."
© 2022 France-Insider All Rights Reserved
