PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Despite it being illegal under federal and certain state laws, the manufacturing and use of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards appears to be on the rise.
"This is becoming sort of a cottage industry," said KYW Newsradio legal correspondent Amy E. Feldman. She pointed out it's a federal crime to falsify a government seal.
"If you take a look at a vaccine card," she added, "you'll see there are actually two federal seals, the CDC's seal and a seal from [the Department of Health and Human Services]. Both of those would be their own separate charge of falsifying a government seal if you are using a fake document."
Feldman said there could be federal forgery charges. What's more, those actually creating the vaccine card are also subject to counterfeiting charges.
"This isn't simply the potential of jail time - which it is - or the potential of for a huge fine - which it also is," she explained. "You also may not be able to get certain jobs, because that will be on your background."
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Determining whether a vaccine card is real or not may be the next hurdle in the pandemic for businesses to deal with, Feldman said, in order to help keep customers and employees safe.
"There is a very easy way to check to see whether it's the real deal or not," she detailed. "Every state has its own database that tracks who has already received the vaccine and who hasn't. So in Pennsylvania, for example, there is a state-wide immunization information system and the health care provider actually puts in information about your particular vaccine dose."