The Public Prosecutor’s Office has expanded an investigation into the vaccination of Italian hotel workers at Munich airport. According to the General Prosecutor’s Office in Nuremberg, there should have been a second vaccination campaign. Other employees of an Italian hotel are said to have received an injection against the coronavirus, Chief Public Prosecutor Matthias Held told the German Press Agency on Friday.

As a result, there is now a trail to North Rhine-Westphalia. According to his information, a doctor’s practice and a pharmacy were searched in Cologne on Thursday. The Cologne doctor is also said to have administered the vaccination at Munich airport, Held reported. That’s why it is being investigated. At first, the “Kolnische Rundschau” reported about the raid in Cologne.

So far it was learned that about 120 employees of Italy’s holiday resort Fort Village had gone to Munich for vaccination on 21 May. After a brief stay, the hotel staff flew back to the island of Sardinia. This matter was in the headlines in Italy and Germany.

The second vaccination campaign is also said to have taken place a week later at Munich airport. It is said to be again about hotel staff in Italy. In this case, however, the hotel in question was not in Sardinia. It is not clear how many workers received an injection on May 28. There is a suspicion that doctors vaccinated at both appointments, Held said.

In mid-June, the Public Prosecutor’s Office conducted searches at several locations in Munich on suspicion of vaccine embezzlement, bribery and corruption in the health system. Several doctors and other suspects are being investigated. The chief prosecutor said the details of the results of the investigation could not be given at this time.

The company Fort Village stated that no vaccines from “state German stock” were used in the group vaccinations. However, investigators believe the vaccine was purchased from the Federal Republic and that hotel staff in Italy were not authorized to be vaccinated in Germany.

The matter is being investigated by the Central Office for Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Health Care System. The specialist office established at the Nuremberg Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for all of Bavaria.

Information about the vaccination of Italians was requested by both the Federal Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Marcus Söder (CSU). “We don’t want vaccination tourism to Germany,” Soder said. (dpa)