A private clinic in Gombak has been raided for issuing COVID-19 vaccination certificates without administering the shots to paying anti-vaxxers. The police arrested seven individuals involved in the case last week, including the owner of the clinic.
Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said that the clinic promoted their service through WhatsApp messages and charged RM500 per person to update their vaccination record on MySejahtera while avoiding the jab. As it turns out, the clinic initially charged RM3,000 for its service before lowering the price due to competition.
Furthermore, the clinic is said to have thrown away the vaccines and returned the empty vials with broken seals to the Ministry of Health, making it seem as though the shots were administered. Arjunaidi added that the clinic has registered a total of 5,601 individuals into the MySejahtera system, and investigations are currently underway to identify which recipients did not actually take the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the police in Kelantan have also received several reports of illegal vaccination certificates being issued by a clinic in Kota Bharu who apparently charged its customers just RM180 for each certificate. Four suspects have since been arrested, including the clinic’s owner and three clients who purchased the certificates.
These are just a few of several cases this month of such an operation being discovered by the authorities. A doctor in Marang, Terengganu is currently in hot waters for selling vaccination certificates to those who wanted to avoid the shot but in a rather ironic twist, he may have tricked his customers instead. On another hand, the police have also uncovered a similar ring run by a syndicate in Sabah using vaccination centres.
Given the potential amount of money that the illegal vaccination certificate could generate, we believe that more doctors and clinics, as well as their anti-vax clients, will be exposed by the authorities soon. After all, the private clinic vaccination program which is handled by MoH’s subsidiary, ProtectHealth Corporation, is a huge part of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) with 30.6 million out of 60.8 million doses or around 50.3% doses including booster shots were given through it as of 16 January.
(Source: Berita Harian, CodeBlue, NST.)
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