As the COVID-19 vaccine requirements grow in the country, especially for students who will attend in-person classes, so do fake vaccine cards. Law enforcement and college officials said that the mandatory requirement was capitalized by those who opposed the vaccine to cheat the system.

While the delta variant of the coronavirus swept across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities now require the vaccine cards. Based on the interviews with students and education officials, fake vaccine cards were spread online for those who needed them.

According to U.S. News, the tally by The Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that at least 664 colleges and universities across the United States now require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. For the colleges to confirm if the vaccination was valid at many schools, the process was simple. It was only by uploading a picture of the vaccine card to the student's portal for documentation.

The process was taken advantage of by fake vaccine card makers across the internet. The fake vaccine card industry has sprung up to accommodate people who say they won't get vaccinated for either personal or religious reasons. Fake card suppliers also emphasized that they were saving people who would come to them asking for fake vaccine cards as they found a way to avoid what they claimed were 'poisonous vaccines.'

READ MORE: Dr. Fauci Hopes FDA Grant Full Vaccine Approval by The End of The Month; Booster Shot Needed by Some Groups

Fake Vaccine Cards Online

In Instagram, an account with the username "vaccination cards' ' was selling already laminated COVID-19 vaccination cards. Each fake vaccine card was available for $25 each.

Moreover, there was also a user on a messaging application who offered COVID-19 vaccination cards certificates. The user was selling it for a price of $200 apiece. The account of the seller of the fake vaccine card has been viewed by at least 11,000 app users.

Also, on Twitter, a user with more than 70,000 followers posted that his daughter bought two fake vaccine cards online for $50, and it was shipped from China.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt University placed their students on hold on their course registration until their vaccine record was verified. Students would have an early approval if they had an approved medical accommodation or religious exemption.

However, a global health policy professor at the University of North Carolina, Benjamin Mason Meier, questioned how institutions could verify those records. Although the U.S. has electronic systems advancement, Meier stated that the country was basing its vaccination verification on a flimsy paper card.

Due to the emergence of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in March, the FBI issued a joint statement alongside the Department of Health and Human Services, urging the American people not to patronize the fake vaccine cards.

READ NEXT: White House Weighing Vaccine Mandates for Domestic Air Travelers, Nursing-Home Workers as COVID Delta Variant Spreads

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Jess Smith

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