After an affair Selling fake vaccination certificates In Bordeaux last week, another health card scam was added in the department, then Physician’s professional account was used to produce 55 certificates For beneficiaries who did not receive doses. To understand new questions emerging about the safety of sesame seeds, Arnaud Günel, MD, Lormont and managing representative for MG France, France Bleu Gironde details the issues facing practitioners today.
FBG: How does a doctor of the day who provides a vaccination certificate to a patient work?
Arno Günel: There are two ways. The first with our professional card, which is equivalent to the blue card. We have a reader, we connect to the internet and with this card and our pin code, we can connect to the Ameli website to do the vaccination. The second option, to facilitate vaccination in centers in particular, is a non-physical card system somewhat similar to credit card systems that can be used on mobile phones. We have an application, we validate our registration in the vaccination portal with a secret code received via SMS.
Who says the new system also means new practices and new potential concerns for doctors?
There are more and more cases of fraud where people working in vaccination centers have been able to retrieve doctors’ IDs and codes to be able to call and create fake health permits using this information.
In centers where there are few doctors and a lot of staff, we have to share our codes in certain cases. So some colleagues may be enthusiastic at times.
The other point is that sometimes we have older colleagues called as backup who don’t fully master the digital tool and manage to steal their IDs by deception. We have sent many warnings to our colleagues to explain that you should consider your professional card as a blue card, to avoid getting involved in fake traffic situations.
Are you and your colleagues under pressure from those who refuse to vaccinate?
Almost all of us have been asked. It can range from jokes to very serious requests, where we are asked for fake testimonials. There is a lot of educational work that needs to be done to counter these vaccine concerns and to be able to move towards a real vaccination, as the patient is not protected even with a fake permit. Our concern remains a public health concern, to protect our patients beyond making paper and traffic.
What are the risks of a doctor accepting these requests?
The penalties for health care workers are very severe. It’s a minimum of two to five years, and up to nearly ten years if there is a history of an organized gang. And behind that, the Council of the Order could punish us and expel us for life to prevent us from practicing medicine.
