STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New York state Department of Health announced that it issued a $300,000 penalty as part of a Stipulation and Order signed by a Long Island midwife who falsified immunization records for roughly 1,500 school-aged children.
Jeanette Breen, a licensed midwife who operated Baldwin Midwifery in Nassau County, violated the Immunization Registry Law. Breen reportedly administered 12,449 fake immunizations as pretext for submitting falsified information into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS).
“Misrepresenting or falsifying vaccine records puts lives in jeopardy and undermines the system that exists to protect public health,” state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “Let it be clear, the New York state Department of Health takes this issue seriously and will investigate and use all enforcement tools at its disposal against those who have been found to have committed such violations.”
Breen began this course of falsifying vaccinations at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, three months after non-medical exemptions were no longer considered for required school immunizations. In doing so, Breen supplied patients with the “Real Immunity Homeoprophylaxis Program,” which the state Health Department described as “a series of oral pellets marketed by an out-of-state homeopath as an alternative to vaccination.” These pellets are not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nor are they recognized and approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the state Health Department.
These fraudulent vaccinations did not include COVID vaccinations, but did include falsified immunizations for the following:
- diphtheria
- tetanus toxoid-containing and pertussis vaccine (DTaP or Tdap)
- hepatitis B vaccine
- measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR)
- polio vaccine
- varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine
- meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MenACWY)
- booster doses of MenACWY
- the Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine (HiB) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)
- flu vaccine
- hepatitis A vaccine
Breen administered to children statewide, ranging as far as Erie county. According to a report by NBC, 28 false vaccinations were given to children on Staten Island, 113 in Brooklyn and 488 in Nassau.
Should the children affected by this incident wish to return to school, the Health Department said they must be fully up to date with all required immunizations, or at least be in the process of receiving any missing vaccinations.
“By intentionally falsifying immunization records for students, this licensed health care professional not only endangered the health and safety of our school communities but also undermined public trust,” state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa said. “We are pleased to have worked with our partners in government to bring this wrongdoer to justice. We remain committed to upholding the highest standards of health and well-being within our educational institutions.”
The settlement agreed upon by the Health Department and Breen includes the $300,000 penalty, permanent exclusion from NYSIIS, and the requirement that Breen refrain from ever administering a vaccination that must be reported to NYSIIS again.
“This enforcement action is the culmination of a first-of-its-kind investigation in which the Department’s Bureau of Investigations, Division of Legal Affairs, worked with the Department’s subject-matter experts to uncover a widespread scheme to falsify required school vaccinations,” Director of Investigations Joseph Giovannetti said. “Our thanks to the New York State Education Department for its assistance. Anyone involved in immunization fraud is on notice: Rooting out, combating, and preventing all forms of vaccination fraud is a top priority for the Bureau of Investigations, and we will continue to bring enforcement action against any offender who endangers the health of our communities and abuses our public health systems with this type of illegal activity.”
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January 21, 2024 at 02:22AM
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N.Y. midwife administered 12.5K fake vaccines to children, including Staten Islanders - SILive.com
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