Vaccinations in a silicone fake arm, falsified positive tests or fabricated QR codes: in Italy the pressure to have a vaccination or recovery certificate is increasing, and the creativity and willingness to fraud of antivaxxers is growing just as fast.
In Northern Italy, for example, fifty test points were closed where visitors easily got away with a popular trick: one infected antivaxxer visits several pharmacies for positive tests, which he has each time put under a different name. In this way, he provides all his friends with the sought-after recovery certificate.
Less cunning forms of fraud are also common – from bribing pharmacists for a fake positive result to a QR code generated by whiz kids. According to newspaper La Republica it costs between 250 and 500 euros per person on the black market, although there are family discounts.
That is a lot of money, but in Italy the QR code is more than a convenience: since February 1, almost nothing is possible without the so-called green pass† At the workplace, at the bank, in shops and at post offices you must have a 3G certificate, and in many places – catering, museums, but also public transport – only a vaccination certificate including booster or recent cure is sufficient. From February 15, people over 50 are obliged to be vaccinated, also to be allowed to work.
Lack of large-scale protest
The vast majority of the country has been vaccinated. 89 percent of the population over the age of five has had at least one dose. Nevertheless, cautious health minister Roberto Speranza still considers the rules necessary. Not because they are so effective in preventing infections, but to further increase the vaccination rate.
The policy has not sparked large-scale protests in Italy, even after a notable exception for tourists has been introduced at the insistence of the EU. They are allowed to test for entry without a booster, while Italians are given no other option than to get the third shot. But the lack of protest doesn’t mean everyone thinks the rules are fine or proportionate. Polls show that a third of the population would rather abolish the corona ticket today than tomorrow.
An equally high percentage actually vote in favor of keeping the admission ticket for an unlimited period of time ‘to convince everyone to get vaccinated’. But the QR policy also has far-reaching consequences for fully vaccinated people. If you test positive for corona, your green pass will be deactivated. Activation only follows after an official negative test.
That can take place at the earliest seven days after the positive test – but just waiting for a place sometimes adds a few days. In addition, there is a risk that the result will still be positive after a week, after which there is always a second chance to ‘negativize’ you (now an established Italian verb) only after an extra week of isolation.
Dazzling complexity
In the past, the policy regularly led to lengthy isolation periods, of up to five or six weeks. The maximum has now been set at three weeks, but after that it is often the question of when the much-needed QR code, your ticket to public life, will be valid again. Due to slow processing of test results, this can sometimes take extra days.
So not only are the rules strict, but their implementation is so cumbersome and full of additional delay risks in much of the country that many Italians quietly avoid the official route and test themselves at home alone. That is forbidden, but understandable from the point of view of freelancers who risk losing weeks of income because of a positive test, vaccinated three times and only a cold.
For example, corona policy is now slowly falling prey to the well-known pitfalls of Italian regulations: dizzying complexity and impracticability. The great gulf between the paper ideal and the messy reality is a well-known phenomenon in Italy. The flood of scammers (‘furbetti‘) who maneuver smoothly around the rules, as do those who do well to follow the rules and get lost in a jungle of paperwork and control.
Descending state of emergency
With the tourist season on the horizon, the economic implications of the strict corona policy are once again slumbering like a shadow over the peninsula. Because who will go to strict Italy next summer with a suitcase full of mouth caps, hand gel and self-tests when the rules in Spain or Greece are practically abolished?
In the meantime, the figures are starting to fall sharply after the omikrona peak and there also seems to be some support in Italy for a slightly more relaxed approach to the virus. The fear of March 2020 is slowly turning into a memory, and on March 31, the state of emergency will expire after two years and two months.
For the first time, politicians are openly speculating about the possibility of not extending it, although Minister Speranza is not yet convinced of that plan. But even if the state of emergency ends, no giant strides in repealing the already well-established 2G and 3G policies are to be expected. It is not for nothing that the government recently declared the proof of three vaccinations valid with no end date. The black market for green passes will continue to do well for the time being.