Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Case: Woman Allegedly Tries To Bribe Pharmacist To Lie About Jab

A 34-year-old woman in Australia was charged for allegedly trying to bribe a pharmacist to lie about giving her a COVID-19 vaccine.

The incident took place at a Geraldton pharmacy in Western Australia's Mid West. The woman had scheduled an appointment at the pharmacy, where she offered an “unspecified” amount of money to a pharmacist for the fake jab, the police said. The pharmacist rejected the woman's proposal following which she left the premises, according to Perth Now.

“Geraldton police have charged a 34-year-old woman after an incident that occurred at a pharmacy on Monday, Nov. 8,” a police spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“About 3.25 pm, the woman attended a scheduled appointment at a pharmacy in Geraldton to receive a COVID-19 vaccine... Upon attending, the woman was escorted by a pharmacist to a consult room, where she requested the pharmacist fraudulently administer the vaccine in exchange for an unspecified amount of money.”

After the woman left, the pharmacist informed the police about the incident. Local authorities then found the woman – who has not been identified – and charged her with one count of attempted fraud.

The woman received bail and is due to appear at Geraldton Magistrates Court on Nov. 18, according to Yahoo News Australia.

The latest incident follows another case in the country where a nurse pretended to inject a teenager with a COVID-19 jab. The 51-year-old nurse, identified as Christina Benz, was suspected of falsely injecting up to 25 patients before giving them a fake vaccination status. Benz inserted a needle into a 15-year-old boy’s arm before disposing of the syringe with the vaccine still inside, making a false entry on the medical records system, the police said at the time. Local media also claimed the child's father had attended the Victoria Park Respiratory Clinic and asked specifically for Benz to carry out the vaccination.

There have been several other cases of fake COVID-19 vaccines across the globe. In August, nearly 9,000 people in Germany were in need of getting vaccinated again after a nurse swapped out COVID-19 vaccines for a saline solution. The nurse was placed under investigation after she admitted to replacing doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for a saltwater solution to cover up dropping a vial.