Health Ministry clamps down on faking jobs to get COVID-19 vaccine

Last Updated on Monday, 8 March 2021, 21:33 by Denis Chabrol

The Ministry of Health says previous attempts by impersonators to jump the COVID-19 vaccination line have forced the implementation of stricter protocols to get the jab.

“There are people who wanted to jump the line so they did not want to wait their turn and they would turn out at our vaccination sites and probably try to impersonate health care workers,” Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony said in his briefing on Monday.

Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony says persons eligible to receive the covid vaccines will need to present identification and other documentation of their portfolio “so that we can verify who they are and take the relevant information

The new measures came as a result of persons pretending to be health workers during the immunisation process with the first 3,000 doses that came from Barbados.

The Health Minister warns that persons caught faking their identities to be vaccinated ahead of priority categories of persons will be punished. “If there are persons who are jumping the cue and we discover them, then they are going to face stiff penalties because we don’t want people to jump the cue,” he said.

The current stock of 100,000 doses presently available for distribution will go towards immunising all healthcare workers in the public and private sectors, the elderly 60 years and older, teachers, Joint Services personnel and eventually parliamentarians.

Guyana is scheduled to receive another 100,000 doses through the COVAX facility.