by Nia Peake ‘23

As the United States continues to fight the spike in Covid-19 cases fueled by the delta variant, colleges and universities, government agencies, and private businesses increasingly are implementing vaccine mandates. Instead of viewing the enforcement of these mandates as a precautionary measure to ensure safety for everyone, some anti-vaxxers have found a loophole in remaining unvaccinated: purchasing fake vaccination cards. 

President Joe Biden announced on September 9 new vaccine mandates that will ultimately affect 100 million Americans. Businesses with more than 100 employees are required to get vaccinated or tested weekly. This rule also applies to healthcare workers whose facilities are funded by Medicaid and Medicare, with Biden requiring 17 million of those workers to get vaccinated. 

“We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. So please do the right thing,” Biden spoke to the 80 million Americans who have yet to be vaccinated in hopes of pushing more people to get the shot. The president’s speech seemed to do the opposite and so far has hardened the positions of some of those who oppose mandated vaccines. The retail for fake vaccine cards skyrocketed afterward.

Before his speech, the market for fake vaccination cards had begun its course on the black market. These cards are now being sold for as high as $250 on Telegram, Whatsapp, and Instagram.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are reported to have found 6,000 counterfeit vaccine cards and Pfizer vaccination stickers coming in from foreign countries. They were detected due to low-quality printing and misspellings. A woman from Illinois was arrested for using a fake vaccination card to bypass Hawaii’s mandatory quarantine before entering the state. The tell-tale sign was that her vaccine card read “Maderna” instead of “Moderna.”  

While forging a document impersonating a federal agency like the CDC is illegal, purchasing fake vaccine cards as a loophole to abiding mandates is blatantly irresponsible. If people around you are under the impression that you are vaccinated, but you aren’t, you take the risk of compromising someone’s health. Not to mention 

that paying money for a falsified “proof of vaccination” seems like more of a hassle than going to get the free vaccine.

So, how do we stop people from using fake vaccine cards? The flaw with the printed cards is that they are easy to replicate and can be filled in with any date and name. A replacement option is digital vaccine cards. Virginia recently announced that the state would be launching QR codes to confirm vaccination status that can be scanned before entering a public place requiring vaccinations. While a few apps do allow you to document your vaccination status digitally, public places don’t prioritize them. If businesses single-handedly rely on QR codes for vaccine proof, there is destined to be a decline in fake vaccine cards.