Source: The Guardian
An Italian man is facing fraud charges after turning up for his Covid-19 vaccine wearing a fake arm.
He was so determined to dodge the jab, but still obtain a health pass, that he may have paid hundreds of euros for the silicone prosthetic.
The bizarre episode at a vaccine hub in Biella, a town close to Turin in the northern Piedmont region, came a week after Italy announced measures barring unvaccinated people from a host of social, cultural and sporting activities.
After completing the bureaucratic formalities, including signing a consent form in front of a doctor, the man, aged 50, sat down and lifted up the sleeve of his shirt as he prepared for a health worker to administer the jab.
Initially, the health worker did not notice anything odd, as the silicone looked similar to skin. But after taking a closer look and touching the arm, the medic asked the man to take off his shirt. His plan foiled, the man, who has not been named, then tried to persuade the health worker to turn a blind eye.
“I felt offended as a professional,” Filippa Bua told La Repubblica. “The color of the arm made me suspicious and so I asked the man to uncover the rest of his left arm. It (the prosthetic) was well made but it wasn’t the same color.” The man said to her: “Would you have imagined that I’d have such a physique?”
She told La Stampa she could not see the man’s veins: “At first I thought I made a mistake, that it was a patient with an artificial arm.”
Local authorities said the case would border on the ridiculous were it not "for the fact that we are talking about a gesture of enormous gravity”.
