Italy man tries to dupe jab center with silicone arm

Rome, Dec 3 (EFE).- A 50-year-old Italian man who turned up to a vaccine center wearing a prosthetic silicone arm in a bid to access the country’s Covid-19 passport system without actually getting the jab is facing criminal charges.

The bizarre event took place on Thursday in the town of Biella, near Turin, in northern Italy.

Just as the nurse was about to administer the dose, she noticed something strange about the portion of the upper arm the man had exposed.

Believing at first that the man was an amputee, Filippa Bau asked to use his other arm instead, the nurse told local newspaper Corriere della Sera.

She realized that the first arm he offered up for the vaccine was a highly-realistic silicone prosthetic.

It was then it dawned on her that he was trying to trick her. It is unclear whether the whole arm was a prosthetic or just the area of skin where the jab would be given.

And yet, although the ruse was discovered, the man still tried to convince the nurse to turn a blind eye to the incident.

She instead informed her superiors, and the man was reported to the local police.

He acknowledged that he tried to trick the nursing staff in order to access Italy’s so-called super green Covid-19 pass, which from Monday will be necessary to access bars, restaurants, public buildings, public transport and sporting events.

Alberto Cirio, the regional leader of Piedmont, where the incident took place, issued a statement saying the man’s actions would be “ridiculous were it not for the enormous, unacceptable gravity of the incident in the face of the sacrifice the pandemic is making our entire community pay, in terms of human lives and social and economic costs.”