Former NY Nurse Practitioner Hit with Record $544,000 Penalty for Falsifying 162 Children's Vaccination Records
核心洞察
The New York State Department of Health (搜索) imposed a $544,000 civil penalty on Julie DeVuono (搜索), the largest vaccination fraud penalty in the department's 125-year history.
DeVuono was found to have falsely reported administering at least one vaccination to each of 162 school-aged children between November 2019 and January 2022.
The fraudulent records, entered into the NYSIIS database, involved routine pediatric vaccines including MMR, polio, hepatitis B (搜索), DTaP, and pneumococcal vaccines.
The New York State Department of Health (搜索) announced on July 9 that it has imposed a $544,000 civil penalty on Julie DeVuono (搜索), a former Suffolk County nurse practitioner found to have falsified vaccination records for 162 school-aged children. The department called it the largest civil penalty for vaccination fraud in its 125-year history, surpassing a previous record of $300,000 set in 2023.
State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald adopted the findings that DeVuono falsely reported administering at least one vaccination to each of the 162 children, in violation of Public Health Law, between November 2019 and January 2022. "Vaccines are the best protection against serious preventable diseases, and the New York State Department of Health (搜索) has zero tolerance for those that misrepresent or falsify vaccination records as these acts put lives in jeopardy," McDonald said.
Scope of the Fraud
An investigation by the Department of Health's Bureau of Investigations determined that DeVuono, formerly of Amityville, entered false immunization records into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) for hundreds of pediatric vaccinations that were never administered. The fraudulent records primarily involved children from Long Island and the Hudson Valley, but also included children from New York City and the Capital District.
The falsified records encompassed routine childhood vaccinations, including those for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), chickenpox, polio, hepatitis B (搜索), diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (搜索) (DTaP), meningococcal disease (搜索), Haemophilus influenzae type b (搜索), and pneumococcal disease (搜索).
The department has removed the false immunization records from the state registry over the past two school years. Families affected by the fraudulent entries were required to provide proof of immunization from another provider before their children could return to school.
Criminal History and Cumulative Penalties
This civil case follows DeVuono's January 2022 arrest in connection with a COVID-19 (搜索) vaccination card fraud scheme. She pleaded guilty in September 2023 and was sentenced in June 2024 under a plea agreement that required her to surrender her nursing licenses, forfeit more than $1.2 million in criminal proceeds, and serve five years of probation. The $544,000 civil penalty is in addition to the more than $1.2 million DeVuono forfeited as part of the criminal case.
Public Health Implications
Accurate vaccination records are essential because schools, doctors, and public health officials rely on them to track community immunity and respond quickly to outbreaks. A falsified record does not merely mislead a school administrator—it leaves a child unprotected against diseases like measles or whooping cough while the community believes otherwise, undermining the safety net that immunization requirements are meant to provide.
"Make no mistake, the Department will investigate and hold those accountable who so brazenly undermine our public health system and endanger the health and safety of our communities," McDonald stated.
The record-breaking penalty signals a broader shift in how seriously regulators are treating vaccination fraud, particularly as COVID-19 (搜索) intensified scrutiny of vaccination verification systems. For healthcare providers, the case underscores that falsifying medical records carries consequences that extend well beyond a single scheme.