A New Jersey woman is accused of selling about 250 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards for $200 a piece to hospital employees and other healthcare workers, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced Aug. 31.
Jasmine Clifford, 31, of Lyndhurst, N.J., allegedly sold the fake vaccination cards through her Instagram account, "AntiVaxMomma." For an extra $250, Ms. Clifford's alleged co-conspirator, Nadayza Barkley, would enter the person's name into the New York State Immunization Information System database as having received COVID-19 vaccinations, prosecutors said. Ms. Barkley, who works at a medical clinic in Patchogue, N.Y., allegedly fraudulently entered at least 10 people into the database.
Ms. Clifford and Ms. Barkley are both charged with offering a false instrument for filing and conspiracy. Ms. Clifford also is charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Of those who allegedly purchased the fake vaccination cards, 13 work in hospitals, medical schools, nursing schools, nursing homes or other front-line and essential-employee settings, prosecutors said. Those 13 individuals are charged with conspiracy and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
"We will continue to safeguard public health in New York with proactive investigations like these, but the stakes are too high to tackle fake vaccination cards with whack-a-mole prosecutions," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a news release. "We need companies like Facebook to take action to prevent the fraud happening on their platforms. Making, selling, and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes with serious public safety consequences."
Prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing.