warned social media and online shopping platforms to crack down on sales of blank or fraudulently completed cards.
won’t require Americans to carry proof of vaccination. Florida has even
passed a law
prohibiting businesses from requiring proof.
But elsewhere, businesses, venues and events are increasingly offering special access or treats to those who can show this evidence, if not flat-out requiring proof for service.
vaccine passports, like one used in
New York. Such passports involve checking user-entered data against state or other immunization registries with the user’s permission, meaning a user would have pre-verified evidence to show a business.
But at this moment in much of the country, the CDC card might be the only record a business can expect to see on the spot.
vaccinated-only sections, where social distancing is not enforced. Krispy Kreme and White Castle and others are
offering freebies.
considering vaccine verifications for international travel, as are
cruise ships for their voyages. The
European Union has said it will eventually let Americans in for nonessential travel again if they are vaccinated.
requiring vaccination after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
said they could if they allow religious and medical exemptions. Some
colleges also are requiring inoculation for access to campus.
Why people might be inclined to fake the cards
Not everyone wants to get vaccinated. Combine that with a desire to keep up with rising documentation requirements as society opens up, you begin to see the temptations to fake them.
not try to get a Covid-19 vaccine.
different poll, from the Kaiser Family Foundation in April, found 13% of adult respondents saying they definitely wouldn’t get a Covid-19 vaccine, and a further 6% saying they would get it only if required.
Legal consequences could be steep
Crimes associated with making or using fake vaccination record cards include wrongfully using government seals, the FBI said in its warning.
punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine.
arrested Tuesday on suspicion of selling fake Covid-19 vaccination cards.
He was charged with felonies including forgery of a government seal and identity theft of Pfizer, CVS and the CDC, a district attorney’s office said.
Fakers could lose their job or be thrown off campus
required to get vaccinated to work, those that are unvaccinated might stand to lose their jobs.
college student caught using a fake to be on campus — it stands to reason that lying could jeopardize a person’s status as an employee or student.
And could endanger themselves and others
An unvaccinated person using a fake vaccination card to access a business, venue or workplace set aside for vaccinated people presents at least some risk to both groups, said Dr. Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology and immunology at the Harvard T.H. School of Public Health.
— Risk to vaccinated people: In general, risk to vaccinated people would be low in many venues. There are a few key caveats.
not 100% effective in preventing infection.
Second, risks could rise for vaccinated elderly people as time advances, because generally, the immune systems of the elderly tend to be worse at retaining protective immunity, Mina said.
No one is yet sure how long Covid-19 immunity will last across age groups. But Mina said the following scenario could be dangerous: An unvaccinated person using a fake vaccination record to access or work at a nursing home. “Even if everyone else in that place is vaccinated, there may be vulnerable people where immunity has waned or they never took to (the vaccine) well,” Mina said.
— Risk to the unvaccinated person: If all other attendees were vaccinated, the chances of one unvaccinated faker picking up the disease would be low.
But again, vaccination is no guarantee that the inoculated person can’t carry small amounts of the virus. And we’re talking again about a venue where people might not be socially distancing.
sick, Mina said.
“If I was not vaccinated, I would not want to be next to someone who is vaccinated and positive,” Mina said.
For both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, risks increase if more than one faker shows up.
“If there are too many people doing that, there are no safe places anymore,” Mina said.
About vaccine passports
driven by tech companies, health care providers and other businesses — are working on vaccine passport systems, said Mary Beth Kurilo, senior director of health informatics for the American Immunization Registry System.
“I think a lot of these initiatives are just getting off the ground and still in development, and I think we’re all learning in real-time about them as they come online,” she said.
Vaccination Credential Initiative — which includes IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Mayo Clinic and the Commons Project, a non-profit with a vaccine passport app working with some airlines — is playing a role in developing US standards for digital health passes, including its approach to data privacy. Members of the non-profit will be required to not collect or store user data.
True CDC Covid-19 vaccination record cards still matter now — they’re the one consistent record showing someone has had a vaccine, Kurilo said.
And because not everyone has cell phones, those cards — or other offline methods, such as ensuring that printed, pre-verified vaccination passports are available — will matter in the future, to ensure equity, she said.
CNN’s Sarah Moon, Brian Fung and Samantha Murphy Kelly contributed to this report.