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“Forging a card is not a good idea, and it only puts other people at risk,” said Kris Ehresmann, MDH director of infectious diseases.
” The intention [of] making sure people are vaccinated is making sure you have a population that needs to be protected, so if someone is tampering with [vaccination cards], it undermines that goal, ”Ehresmann added.
This concern goes beyond Minnesota health officials. A recent Associated Press investigation found that many colleges and universities that will require or already require proof of vaccination are concerned about counterfeits.
On Monday, the University of Minnesota announced that its students will be required to show proof of vaccination once the United States Food and Drug Administration gives full approval for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The U of M public relations office issued the following statement regarding the falsification of vaccination cards:
“The procedures for implementing the approach we announced today are still under development. While we are aware of emerging concerns about potentially fake vaccination cards, it is too early to say what impact, if any, these reports will have on us. “
The University of St. Thomas has already made the decision to require it – a representative sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement about the problem and how it plans to verify the validity of the cards:
“We have several resources at our disposal to check immunization status. For example, the majority of our student records are included in the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection database, and St. Thomas also has access to the Wisconsin immunization registry. For all cards submitted directly to the university, our staff verify details such as the manufacturer, batch number, and the clinic that provided the vaccination. “
Gustavus Adolphus College, an institution requiring proof of student vaccination, issued the following statement:
“At Gustavus Adolphus College, our health department is a licensed health care provider. As such, our clinical staff have access to the state’s confidential Minnesota Immunization Information (MIIC) connection. means that Gustavus students, faculty, and staff who are vaccinated in Minnesota (about 80% of our community of 3,000 people) do not have to download proof of vaccination because health care staff can access it through the state’s confidential system.
“For students, faculty and staff vaccinated in other states / countries, we ask them to upload proof of their vaccination to our secure health service portal.
“Our entire COVID-19 response to Gustavus over the past 18 months has focused on harnessing the strength of our community and the shared ties we have as a small residential college to encourage compliance. With that in mind, and considering that students may opt out of the vaccine requirement for medical, religious or conscientious objection reasons, we believe we will have a very low, if not negligible, number of card fraud. vaccination. “
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