NPR’s Ailsa Chang chats with Roselyn Romero of Associated Press about how undergraduates are using fake immunization cards for in-person classes and how schools are responding.

Aisha Zhang, has:

Scannable fake id’s are totally available to undergraduates now, you know, when you’re under 21 to get into a bar or a dance club. Regardless, this year, some students focused on another popular report — fake immunization cards. Schools and colleges across the country are now requiring verification of coronavirus immunizations for in-person classes, prompting a growing business sector to offer counterfeit vaccination cards to individuals who are hesitant or unwilling to receive available immunizations. We’re now joined by Roselyn Romero of Related News as he talks about how students gain access to these misleading immunization records and how schools are fighting them. welcome.

ROSELYN ROMERO: Thank you so much for having me.

Zhang: First, what records are recognized by the school as confirmation of immunization?

Romero: First I should say I’m an undergraduate. So I went to Caltech in San Luis Obispo. I think it applies to each of the 23 venues in the Cal State framework, where students simply transfer a photo of their vaccination card. So it’s totally submitted via photo on Student Gateway.

Zhang: I’m just curious what you think about the possibility of the id card fake story. You said you are an undergraduate student now. Have you actually come across some fake vaccination cards or heard some of your colleagues discuss the need to get one?

Romero: Before I started reporting on this story, I hadn’t seen it in that state of mind, and on my own Instagram account, someone followed me. The username is NHS_vaccinecards . They are selling these immunization cards. After that, when I started, you know, had more discussions with my friends at school, and some people said, no doubt, they were very helpful. However, virtual entertainment has apps like Snapchat, and since your posts are only saved for 24 hours, unless someone takes a screenshot of your post, it’s not hard to move away. So we see individuals, you know, on their Instagram or their Snapchat stories, and I’m selling the best fake ids for $20 to $200 each.

Zhang: 200? amazing. We should know that using a fake immunization card to go to an in-person class at a college or school is a felony, right?

Romero: So the Department of Welfare and Human Administration, the Office of the Attorney General, and the FBI previously made an assertion at the 30th walk of the year, basically, let’s say you produce, let’s say you sell, let’s say you use whatever Stuff – it’s a felony whether you just have an id card fake or not. You could face fines and up to five years in prison.

Zhang: Indeed, I just want to say, how can they say if they passed the fake vaccination card? How is the check interaction?

Romero: In summary, one of the questions I’m trying to address is, are these schools and colleges approaching a focal dataset or a state dataset that records all coronavirus immunizations? Is it possible that at any time these universities will compare the immunization cards they received with the information they have now? By now, we are now aware that the CDC has no public dataset of coronavirus immunizations. So we don’t know what the check cycle for these cards seems to be.

Zhang: Wait a minute. For example, with regards to checks, I have a lot of numbers on my buy a fake id. I am checking it. Can a school or college at any time cross-reference any package number they see on the card or show a photo of the card and cross-reference it with the dataset to guarantee the part number exists?

Romero: So we can’t say whether or not these colleges and schools are going to process any datasets of these antibody package numbers, but I do see merchants posting on dimly lit web and virtual entertainment showing that we work with experts or health professionals for customers The entry into the post of these immunization part numbers gives the idea of ​​being fully vaccinated.

Zhang: Very interesting. Roselyn Romero of Related News, thank you for walking with us today.