12 arrested in Saudi over covid vaccine forgery

Saudi has arrested a number of employees from the Ministry of Health on suspicion that they modified residents’ coronavirus vaccination records in exchange for fees.

The Saudi Control and Anti-Corruption Commission, known as Nazaha, said on Twitter that it had monitored advertisements on social networking sites which offered to modify people’s health status from infected to unvaccinated, vaccinated first dose and finally to immunised in an attempt to circumvent government restrictions on unvaccinated people.

The details were “unlawfully uploaded” to the Tawakkalna track and trace application, officials said, for a fee.

Staff at the Ministry of Health and those who have been found to have paid to have their statuses changed have been arrested. A total of 12 people have been detained in the case including Saudis, Yemenis and Syrians, sources said.

Saudi Arabia initiated mass vaccinations against COVID-19 in mid-December. Over 18 million doses have since been administered to citizens and foreign residents across the kingdom, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health.

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