Anti-Counterfeiting Bill Introduced to Prevent Falsification of COVID-19 Vaccination Records

CARLE PLACE, NY (February 5, 2021) - State Senator Anna M. Kaplan announced the introduction of legislation (S.4516) in the New York State Senate that would prevent individuals from creating counterfeit records of COVID-19 vaccination status, ensuring the veracity of such records and preventing individuals from misrepresenting their vaccine history, potentially jeopardizing their own health and that of those around them.

Bill sponsor Senator Anna M. Kaplan said "as governments and businesses work to find solutions to ease pandemic era restrictions while keeping people safe, vaccination cards and digital vaccination passports are set to become an important tool to allow people to ease back into normal life and get our economy back on track. If we are going to be relying on these records as a tool to help mitigate risk of community spread and create safe, COVID-free environments, it's absolutely critical that we ensure the information on them is accurate, and that bad actors aren't trying to game the system with counterfeit cards or apps."

The bill, S.4516, will:

• Deter individuals from counterfeiting COVID-19 vaccination records: The bill creates the crime of falsification of COVID-19 records in the second degree, a class A misdemeanor, which states that no individual shall intentionally falsify or alter a COVID-19 vaccination record card or digital vaccine passport in order to misrepresent their own vaccination history
• Deter medical professionals from counterfeiting COVID-19 vaccination records: The bill also creates the crime of falsification of COVID-19 records in the first degree, a class E felony, which states that no licensed medical professional shall intentionally falsify or alter a COVID-19 vaccination record card or digital vaccine passport to misrepresent a history and record of vaccine treatment.