NY Legislature Passes "Truth in Vaccination" Bill Protecting Vaxx Records From Fraud

ALBANY, NY (June 10, 2021) - Today, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation by State Senator Anna M. Kaplan (D-North Hills) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), S.4516C, that would make the falsification of COVID-19 vaccination records a crime. The bill passed at a critical time in the state's vaccination rollout and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, where officials are working diligently to ensure as many New Yorkers get vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible.

Bill sponsor Senator Anna M. Kaplan said "we're using vaccine cards and passports to make everything safer from baseball to Broadway, but the system relies on individuals being truthful about their vaccination status in order to keep everyone safe. We're already seeing anti-vaxxers spread tips online for how to create fake cards in order to get around vaccination mandates, and we need to put a stop to this effort to defraud the public so that our recovery from the pandemic can keep moving forward."

The bill, S.4516C, will:

• Make it a crime to create a fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination card by amending the legal definition of a "written instrument" to explicitly include a card provided to a person by a vaccine provider indicating the date a person received vaccination against COVID-19 as well as the type of vaccine and its lot number.
• Make it a crime to create a fraudulent COVID-19 Vaccination Passport by amending the penal law to create a crime of intentionally altering computer material to indicate that a person received a vaccination against COVID-19

Following passage in both houses of the legislature, the bill now goes to the Governor.