NSS Reveals Details on Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates

The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia has disclosed new details regarding the illegal issuance of fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates. Thanks to the consistent and targeted operational-investigative activities carried out by the NSS's Anti-Corruption and Economic Security Department, factual data has been acquired about the involvement of various officials from healthcare institutions in Yerevan.

These officials, authorized to organize the vaccination process against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Armenia, allegedly made clearly false entries in outpatient medical records claiming that several individuals who were absent from Armenia had undergone medical examinations and received vaccinations. However, they did not use the various vaccination types intended for the pandemic and instead created fraudulent information in the 'ARMED' system, which automatically generated certificates of vaccination based on the personal data and photographs of each individual.

In connection with these events, the NSS's investigative department has initiated six criminal cases regarding the abuses that occurred in six healthcare institutions, leading to the arrest of three healthcare workers. One of them has been charged under relevant provisions of the Armenian Criminal Code, and pre-trial detention has been applied as a measure of restraint.

The NSS is conducting necessary procedural actions to clarify all circumstances of the case, as well as to identify all individuals involved in the criminal scheme concerning the vaccination process against the coronavirus pandemic and to evaluate their actions legally.

Simultaneously, operational-investigative measures continue to be implemented to uncover possible manifestations of such abuses and to prevent their further progression.

The National Security Service urges the public to refrain from obtaining and using fake documents claiming COVID-19 vaccination through illegal means, reminding that such actions are subject to criminal prosecution and entail criminal liability.

The National Security Service points out that these types of abuses pose a real threat to the further spread of the pandemic and to the effective implementation of preventive and anti-epidemic measures aimed at safeguarding public health, thereby undermining the efficacy of state measures undertaken in the health sector.