China News Service, December 5th. According to US media reports, the South Carolina Attorney's Office announced on the 3rd that a federal grand jury indicted a South Carolina nurse on two charges of forging vaccine cards on the same day.
The picture shows Americans waiting in long lines at the vaccinations in the Disneyland Resort in California.
According to a press release issued by the prosecutor’s office, Tammy McDonald, 53, was also charged with lying to federal investigators.
She faces up to 15 years in prison for two counts of forging vaccine cards, and another charge of lying to investigators carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
On the 3rd, MacDonald was summoned and released on bail of US$10,000.
Derek Jackson, head of the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health, said his office is still “committed to working with law enforcement partners to investigate people who use the epidemic for personal gain”.
"The indictment accuses McDonald of deceiving and endangering the public by making and distributing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards." He said in a statement.
"Practicing such illegal activities will undermine current efforts to respond to the pandemic."
MacDonald was the director of nursing services at a hospital.
The indictment stated that she was suspected of forging vaccine cards in June and July and distributing them to patients who she knew had not been vaccinated.
On October 22, McDonald was questioned by federal investigators, during which time she lied about the forged vaccine card.
In May of this year, US Attorney General Merrick Garland established a new crown fraud enforcement working group to combat fraud during the pandemic.
On the 3rd, the Justice Department also accused a Baltimore man of distributing fake vaccine cards.