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A WA nurse has been arrested on suspicion of 'administering' fake COVID-19 vaccinations.
The 51-year-old female RN has been charged in "relation to the fraudulent recording of vaccine information" according to a statement from the Western Australia Police Force.
On Sunday November 7 the nurse was working at a private medical centre in St James, a Perth suburb, when a person known to the nurse arranged to have the vaccine administered to their teenage child.
The nurse was being observed by a doctor who caught her putting the needle into the 15-year-old's arm, but not injecting the vaccine.
It is alleged that she then threw away the full syringe and falsified the medical records to indicate they had in fact been vaccinated.
The nurse is also accused of recording that another nurse administered the shot, not her.
The nurse was refused bail after her initial arrest and appeared in court on Monday charged with one count of "gains benefit by fraud".
The Nine Papers, who described the nurse as an "anti-vaxxer", reported on Monday that the nurse is suspected of vaccinating 25 people that same weekend, all of whom sought her out specifically.
Suspicions were raised as people asked for her by name and she would then close the door to the room when vaccinating patients for "privacy reasons".
A police prosecutor said her actions were "clearly an anti-vaccination stance”.
After her court appearance the nurse was granted bail on strict conditions.
She is not allowed to practice as a registered nurse or administer any more COVID vaccinations, or contact any patients or employees where she administered vaccines, and she is not to use social media to communicate with anyone.
The nurse and her husband, a chiropractor, have been linked to the anti-vaccination organisation, Australian Vaccination Network, and her husband is said to be vocal in his beliefs.
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My thoughts go out to the staff of this Perth medical centre. I hope this nurse is dealt with as she ought to be, by the WA legal system, but also by APHRA.