Hochul signed off on a measure to make falsification of Covid-19 records a felony crime on Wednesday, warning that residents who “misrepresent” their vaccination status “not only jeopardize their own health, but the health of all those they come into contact with.”
“This legislation ensures that as New York opens up and many businesses choose to rely on checking vaccination status, the falsification of vaccination records will not be tolerated,” she said in a statement.
A proof-of-vaccination card will now be considered “a written instrument for purposes of the forgery statute which makes the falsification of COVID-19 Vaccination Cards a class D felony” – or punishable by up to a year in prison.
Tampering with vaccination records on a computer database will also now be considered a class E felony and punishable by up to four years behind bars.