Current:Home > MarketsSome children tied to NY nurse’s fake vaccine scheme are barred from school -WealthGrow Network
Some children tied to NY nurse’s fake vaccine scheme are barred from school
View
Date:2025-04-27 17:28:12
NEW YORK (AP) — A suburban New York school district has barred patients of a former nurse practitioner who pleaded guilty to running a fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination card scheme.
The move by school officials in the Long Island hamlet of Plainedge comes nearly three years after Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and an employee were charged with forging vaccination cards and pocketing more than $1.5 million from the scheme.
When DeVuono was arrested in January 2022, prosecutors said she was handing out fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and charging $220 for adults and $85 for children. Officers said they found $900,000 in cash when they searched DeVuono’s home.
DeVuono pleaded guilty to money laundering and forgery in September 2023 and was sentenced in June to 840 hours of community service where she now lives in Pennsylvania.
She said after her sentencing that she believed front-line workers had the right to refuse vaccines. “If those people feared the vaccine more than they feared getting COVID, anybody in our society has the right to decide for themselves,” DeVuono said.
Meanwhile, the repercussions of her scheme continue, with New York state health officials sending subpoenas last month to more than 100 school districts asking for vaccination records of about 750 children who had been patients of DeVuono and her former practice, Wild Child Pediatrics.
Newsday reports that more than 50 parents of former Wild Child patients are challenging the state’s and school districts’ efforts to either subpoena their children’s records or exclude them from school.
In Plainedge, at least two other former patients of the practice have been barred from the classroom and are now being home-schooled, Superintendent Edward A. Salina Jr. told the newspaper.
DeVuono’s efforts to help parents, government employees and others skip immunizations came as New York state enacted some of the strictest COVID-19 vaccination rules in the nation, affecting many public employees and, in New York City, patrons of restaurants and other businesses.
Vaccine skepticism has grown in the years since COVID-19 emerged and then waned as a threat, and childhood vaccination rates for diseases including measles and polio have fallen.
veryGood! (29)
Related
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Target's new fall-themed products include pumpkin ravioli, apple cookies and donuts
- No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise is diagnosed with blood cancer and undergoing treatment
- Mark Meadows argues GA election call 'part of my role'; Idalia strengthens: 5 Things podcast
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Olivia Culpo Shares Update on Sister Sophia Culpo After Breakup Drama
- A rare look at a draft of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic I Have a Dream speech
- Cardinals QB shakeup: Kyler Murray to start season on PUP list, Colt McCoy released
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Backpage founder faces 2nd trial over what prosecutors say was a scheme to sell ads for sex
Ranking
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Medicaid expansion won’t begin in North Carolina on Oct. 1 because there’s still no final budget
- After Supreme Court curtails federal power, Biden administration weakens water protections
- US Open honors Billie Jean King on 50th anniversary of equal prize money for women
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Republican lawyer, ex-university instructor stabbed to death in New Hampshire home, authorities say
- Former NFL player Marshawn Lynch gets November trial date in Las Vegas DUI case
- Maria Sakkari complains about marijuana smell during US Open upset: 'The smell, oh my gosh'
Recommendation
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
'Death of the mall is widely exaggerated': Shopping malls see resurgence post-COVID, report shows
Nasty Gal End-of-Season Sale: Shop 25 Under $50 Everyday Essentials
Biden to observe 9/11 anniversary in Alaska, missing NYC, Virginia and Pennsylvania observances
Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
The Fate of The Idol Revealed Following Season One
Is palm oil bad for you? Here's why you're better off choosing olive oil.
MLB power rankings: Dodgers, Mookie Betts approach Braves country in NL standings, MVP race