Two nurses on Long Island are being charged this week for forging vaccination cards, reportedly making $1.5 million in their illegal operation. The situation has left many to wonder about the larger implications of vaccine card forgery on the healthcare system.
“Anytime there’s a system like this put into place, certain people enjoy finding ways to circumvent it. So we’re seeing some of that, our office has been called and consulted on a couple of different cases involving false vaccine cards,” said Nick Passalacqua the founder and managing director at Passalacqua’s & Associates LLC, according to CNY Central.
The nurses could now face felony charges.
“Some of the charges they could face are like forgery in the second degree, possession of a forged instrument, those are felony charges there are also lower level misdemeanor charges that could come along with it,” said Passalacqua.
These nurses were entering false data into the state system, leading people to question the accuracy of the database as a whole. Passalacqua noted that while these women are the ones that got caught, it’s possible more people are running similar schemes.
Both nurses are to appear in court on February 8.
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