Nurse arrested over vaccination cards
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
A NURSE at Zvishavane District Hospital and her agent have been arrested for issuing Covid-19 vaccination cards to unvaccinated members of the public.
The two are allegedly part of a web involving nurses at the hospital taking advantage of members of the public who don’t want to be vaccinated but want Covid-19 vaccination cards.
Police are still to find out the number of people who got the Covid-19 vaccination cards from the web.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the arrest of Faith Varaidzo Taruvinga (29) of Izaya Park in Zvishavane and Cloud Nyoni (29) on Monday.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said detectives set a trap and pretended to be in need of vaccination cards.
He said on Monday morning police received information to the effect that nurses at Zvishavane District Hospital were issuing Covid-19 vaccination cards and demanding between US$20 and US$30 for a card.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said police working with the information approached Nyoni who was going around scouting for potential customers.
“Two police officers approached Nyoni pretending to be in need of Covid-19 vaccination cards and he told them that he wanted US$20 for a single card. The police officers managed to negotiate and they agreed on US$15 for the two cards before they gave him their identity particulars which were to be filled on the cards,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said around 2pm of the same day, Nyoni took the police officers to a house in Izaya Park.
At the house, he said, Nyoni introduced the two police officers to Taruvinga.
“Taruvinga who is employed as a nurse at Zvishavane District Hospital later handed over completed vaccination cards to the detectives leading to the arrest of the accused persons,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said the two accused persons were demanding between US$20 and US$30 for a single card.
“The ZRP advises the public to avoid shortcuts and always follow guidelines set by the Government as far as Covid-19 regulations are concerned,” he said.
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