A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cairo, Egypt March 4, 2021. REUTERS
Dar al-Ifta issued the statement following reports of an increase in forgeries after the government announced it would prohibit unvaccinated public servants from entering their workplaces.
“Forging the COVID-19 vaccine certificate is prohibited religiously for what it entails in lying and causing other harm. It is a sin for both owner of the forged certificate and the person who forges it,” Dar al-Ifta said in its short statement.
The fatwa issued by the country’s highest religious authority comes after the ministry of health’s warning earlier of faking the vaccination certificate.
Health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghafer has said that faking the vaccination certificate constitutes forgery of an official document and carries a criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Starting Sunday, the government will bar public servants from entering their workplaces unless they are vaccinated or take a weekly PCR test.
The government will also bar unvaccinated citizens from entering governmental institutions nationwide unless vaccinated starting 1 December.
Acting Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffer on Wednesday that Egypt has so far partially vaccinated 27.4 million citizens against the coronavirus and fully inoculated 14.4 million others.
Egypt is planning to vaccinate 40 million people by the end of 2021.
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