S.C. nursing director made fake COVID-19 vaccine cards: feds

A Columbia, S.C., nursing director has been slapped with federal charges after she allegedly created and distributed fake COVID-19 vaccine cards.

Tammy McDonald, 53, has been charged with two counts of producing fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards and one count of lying to federal investigators, according to the Department of Justice.

According to the indictment, McDonald, who worked as the director of nursing services at a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, created the fake cards in June and July 2021. In October 2021, she was interviewed by federal investigators from a joint FBI and Health and Human Services task force about allegedly distributing cards as well as filling out cards for people she knew had not been vaccinated and denied all wrongdoing and said “she did not have access to COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards and that she never produced a false or inaccurate vaccine card.”

After she pleaded not guilty, McDonald was released on $10,000 bond. She faces up to 35 years if convicted of all three charges.

“Although the indictment speaks for itself, creating fraudulent or fake vaccine cards for those who have not been vaccinated poses a direct threat to the health of the people of South Carolina,” Acting U.S. Attorney M. Rhett DeHart said. “I want to thank our federal and state partners for their quick work in acting on this matter. This office will continue to prosecute fraud related to the Coronavirus in all its forms, and this case speaks to those efforts.”