Former Nurse Receives Historic Fine Over Fake Childhood Vaccination Records
A former pediatric nurse practitioner in New York has been ordered to pay a record-breaking $544,000 civil penalty after state investigators found she falsified vaccination records for 162 school-aged children.
Julie DeVuono, 53, of Amityville, was penalized by the New York State Department of Health following an investigation into a fraudulent vaccination scheme that operated between June 2021 and January 2022. Officials said the penalty is the largest civil fine ever issued by the department in its 125-year history.
Authorities said the fraudulent records included COVID-19 vaccinations as well as several routine childhood immunizations that had never been administered.
Fraudulent Records Included Multiple Required Childhood Vaccines
According to investigators, DeVuono entered hundreds of false vaccination records into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS), making it appear that children had received required immunizations when they had not.
The fake entries covered vaccines protecting against diseases such as:
- COVID-19
- Chickenpox (Varicella)
- Diphtheria
- Tetanus
- Hepatitis B
- Polio
Health officials said falsifying vaccination records poses a serious public health risk because it leaves children and communities vulnerable to preventable diseases.
Families whose children received fraudulent records were later contacted and required to provide legitimate proof of immunization before the students could return to school.
Guilty Plea, Lost License, and Millions Forfeited
The civil penalty follows DeVuono’s earlier criminal case. She pleaded guilty in 2023 to charges including money laundering, forgery, and offering a false instrument for filing. In 2024, she was sentenced to five years of probation.
As part of the case, she surrendered her nursing license and forfeited more than $1.2 million obtained through the scheme.
Prosecutors said she charged clients between $220 and $350 for fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and false entries into the state’s immunization database. Investigators alleged the money was used for personal expenses, including paying off the mortgage on her home.
Although the scheme affected families across New York, officials said most of the fraudulent records involved children from Long Island and the Hudson Valley.
