Amazon is apparently selling counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards

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Vaccine card.
Vaccine card.
(Image credit: GRANT HINDSLEY/AFP via Getty Images)

Back in the good old days, obtaining fake documents at least required driving to Hoboken to have your older brother's sketchy friend sell you an unconvincing scan of a Florida driver's license for $100, so you could get into Continental under the fake name "Earl B. Howe." But in an era when it's one's proof of vaccination that is the new golden ticket to everything from getting into ballparks to scoring extra vacation days, it's apparently become a whole lot easier to get yourself a fake.

In fact, all you have to do is go on Amazon:

Olivia Little, a researcher at Media Matters, previously reported that Etsy has likewise struggled with sales of illegal, fake vaccination cards — including one particularly egregious case of a seller offering "'official' COVID-19 vaccination ID cards for $19.99," who'd even paid to promote the listing and made at least 34 sales. The New York Times reported that in general, scammers' efforts are "far from hidden, with Facebook pages named 'vax-cards' and eBay listings with 'blank vaccine cards' openly hawking the items."

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The FBI has warned that fake vaccination cards are illegal, and lying about one's vaccination status could potentially put even fully vaccinated members of a community in danger. As CBS Tampa Bay writes based on a conversation with Harvard epidemiology and immunology professor Dr. Michael Mina, "for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, risks increase if more than one faker shows up."

"If there are too many people doing that, there are no safe places anymore," Mina said.

Little later reported that Amazon has now seemingly removed the listing.

Jeva Lange
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.