Juniata County woman charged with making fake COVID-19 vaccine card

MIFFLINTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) – A Juniata County woman has been charged with making a fake COVID-19 vaccine card.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Amy B. Leister was
charged on May 18, 2022, by criminal Information with knowingly possessing and making a fake COVID-19 vaccine card.

According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, the information charges Leister with knowingly possessing and making an unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine card. The fake card was designed to appear as if it was issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control to record medical information about vaccines purportedly received, and bearing the insignia of the Center for Disease Control.

The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel is prosecuting the case.

Charges in the Mifflintown case come a week after an Ohio woman was stopped by the Department of Justice for selling nearly 100 fake COVID-19 vaccine cards for $40 each. A Long Island high school teacher was also recently charged with allegedly submitting a forged COVID-19 vaccination card in an effort to get around the school district’s rule mandating either vaccination or weekly testing for the coronavirus.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently adopted rules to allow kids 5-11 to get a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, opening a third COVID-19 shot to healthy elementary-age kids — just like what is already recommended for everybody 12 and older.

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On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across the government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 1 million on Monday, a once-unimaginable figure that only hints at the multitudes of loved ones and friends staggered by grief and frustration.