Call for tougher penalties for forged vaccination cards

Published by Katharina Kock on Thu, 06/24/2021 - 10:02

In view of the cases of forged vaccination cards and test certificates, the federal states want the criminal law regarding the forgery of health certificates to be tightened.

The range of punishment for the falsification of health certificates under Section 277 of the Criminal Code (StGB) is much lower than for the falsification of documents (Section 267 StGB). Forgery of health certificates is punishable by up to one year in prison. Forgery of documents, on the other hand, carries up to five years' imprisonment.

In the opinion of the federal states, the forgery of health certificates should be equated with the forgery of other documents. Against the background of the dangers posed by forgery to the life and health of the population as well as to the functioning of emergency medical care, the current legal classification is no longer up-to-date.