Italian Man Attempts To Dodge COVID Jab Using Fake Arm
A 57 year old Italian man and dentist, Guido Russo showed up to his vaccine appointment with a fake arm covering his real arm in an attempt to obtain his COVID vaccine certificate without getting the jab.
The nurse administering his shot was not fooled by the fake arm and reported him to police. The nurse told local media outlet la Repubblica that the arm's skin was "rubbery and cold" and the pigment was "too light".
After being discovered, the man attempted to get the nurse help him out as he explained he needed the vaccine in order to keep working. The nurse did not comply. Since, he has been suspended from practicing dentistry.
Since August of 2021, Italians have needed a Covid "green pass", which provides them proof of vaccination status, negative COVID test, or recovery from COVID, in order to enter train stations, cinemas, restaurants, gyms and swimming pools.
On Dec. 6th, 2021, rules are changing however. A 'super green pass' is being introduced that only allows those who are vaccinated or who recover from COVID access to these places.
Following the 'fake arm' incident, head of the Piedmont regional government, Albert Cirio said on Facebook,
[the ploy was] "unacceptable faced with the sacrifice that our entire community has paid during the pandemic, in terms of human lives, the social and economic cost".
Albert Cirio
Like so many divisive statements made by politicians throughout this pandemic, the science does not support these words.
COVID vaccination offers personal protection, not protection to others. Vaccinated individuals still carry a viral load as high as the unvaccinated. COVID vaccines do not stop spread or infection of COVID, but may help reduce it. This is why we are seeing large outbreaks in highly vaccinated populations.
In fact, of the top five counties that have the highest percentage of population fully vaccinated (99.9–84.3%), the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies four of them as “high” transmission counties.
This essentially means that one person getting vaccinated against COVID does not protect another person. We also see this in how Omicron spread throughout the world: via vaccinated people who had the ability to travel while the unvaccinated have been grounded.
One of the largest public health perceptual challenge that exists today is that it is automatically assumed unvaccinated people are somehow sick and harbor COVID, and that vaccinated people are free and clear. This is simply false. Vaccination only offers temporary protection against severe disease.
Look at Ontario, Canada's largest province, who recently updated holiday messaging on its website as it pertains to gatherings. The website reads,
"do not exceed the indoor social gathering limit of 25 people. [...] Wear a face covering and physically distance if individuals in attendance are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown"
Government of Ontario
Why are the unvaccinated assumed dangerous? Why are the vaccinated assumed non transmissible? This messaging is contrary to science and reality and puts a false narrative into the public consciousness that not only suggests unvaccinated people are dangerous but that the vaccinated are somehow not getting and spreading COVID.
The implications of such policy informs media rhetoric and political rhetoric that creates further tension and divide in society. All while coercive measures are used by government to get more people vaccinated.
In the case of this Italian man, and like many others around the world, they feel unheard and unacknowledged in maintaining their freedom of choice when taking a medical intervention that is no more than a tool of symptom management. Never in the history of our world has a symptom management pharmaceutical product been made mandatory for all citizens so they can participate in society.