AND PAULA LINDO

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said there are files on the way to the police about false vaccination cards.

He said people found guilty of forging and receiving fake vaccination cards could be imprisoned for up to seven years based on the Forgery Act.

Speaking at the Health Ministry's virtual media conference on Wednesday, Deyalsingh said the ministry had heard about the creation of fake vaccination cards and was taking it seriously.

'Some files are already on the way to the police based on whistleblower information from a concerned person. If it's proved to be true, the people can be imprisoned for seven years. Both the person creating the card and the person receiving the card are liable to be imprisoned.'

In the Forgery Act Chapter 11:13 Section 5:3(i) and 4 say:

'(3) Any person who, with intent to defraud or deceive, commits forgery of any of the following documents is liable to imprisonment for seven years:

(i) any certificate, declaration or order under any written law relating to vaccination or to the registration of births or deaths;

(4) A person who has in his custody or possession a forged document mentioned in subsection (3), commits forgery of that document and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.'

Deyalsingh said the ministry had also immediately revisited the way vaccination cards were distributed.

'We are distributing the vaccination cards in tandem with the number of vaccines. So if a site is getting 100 vaccines, they get 100 vaccine cards. At the end of the day, we will reconcile the number of vaccines with the number of cards.'

In June, Chief Medical Officer Roshan Parasram asked those who received the covid19 vaccine to ensure their vaccination cards have the official stamp of the health facility where it was administered.

Parasram was addressing concerns from the public of people being sent home with unstamped vaccination cards.

He said, 'If you had a shot at the same venue, return and ask them to place their stamp on the card.'

He added, an unstamped card will prove that you were vaccinated (and) legitimacy of any official documentation usually accompany a stamp and a signature.

'Those things have to be there for it to be nationally or even internationally utilised.'

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, in a brief phone interview with Newsday on Wednesday, said it is important for the public to be conscious of the repercussions of forgery. 'These are serious matters. It is important for people to know.'

He said serious attention needs to be paid to the allegations of forgery and reports made to police on the matter.

Al-Rawi said it was the Forgery Act that also informed the government's quarantine protocols for re-entry into the country. He said anyone attempting to re-enter the country using falsified vaccination information can face up to one year imprisonment.

He said, as for how the law will be implemented, the police will conduct investigations into reports of forgery.

Newsday contacted Commissioner of Police Gary Griffi