Faking birth year on vaccination registration site allows people to cut line for booster shot

Some people managed to get a Covid-19 booster shot, although it was not their turn yet. The ANP saw on Sunday that someone who, based on his birth year, would not be due for the additional yet, could get it effortlessly. Someone else managed to do the same two weeks ago.

The person who got the booster shot on Sunday was born in 1967. He entered 1937 as his birth year on the government site. In The Hague region, the man received the booster shot on Sunday. He did this to show it is possible.The other person, whose data was checked by the ANP, made himself four years older. He came from Noord Holland and was born in 1939. When the man could not make an appointment shortly after the booster campaign began, he entered 1935 as his birth year on the vaccination registration. He was able to get an appointment without any problems.

According to the vaccination schedule of Health Minister Hugo de Jonge, people under 60 will not have a booster shot until January. The vaccination campaign in the Netherlands has been going slower than in other European countries. De Jonge announced on Friday that more injection locations would be set up in the weeks to come to ensure that all people over 60 would be able to get an extra shot before the end of the month.

The ANP already showed earlier this week that it is possible to schedule a vaccination appointment with an incorrect birth year. Yet, the GGD GHOR Nederland, the branch organization of the health services, stated in response to this that appointments of people who are not in line yet were canceled. The GGD said they would receive a call. However, those involved who spoke to the ANP did not hear anything from the GGD. A third source, who made an appointment with a fake birth year at the beginning of last week, has not yet received a call. This person will try to get the vaccine on Tuesday.

GGD GHOR pointed out in its previous response that birth years are also checked at the location. However, in the cases known to the ANP, the birth years were not checked at the site. The health service admitted that the system can be manipulated. "We are not the police," a spokesperson said.

"If you skip the line and commit fraud when filling in the data, you will take the spot from someone who may need the vaccination more than you," the spokesperson emphasized. "There is a vaccine available for everyone, but wait your turn."

The government's digital health services have been experiencing problems since the begging of the year. For example, Mid-November had delays transmitting infection figures due to a telecom service provider failure. In July, a DDoS attack targeting the coronatest.nl website made it temporarily tricky for people to make an appointment for a test or vaccination.