91 Long Island school districts reportedly subpoenaed in childhood immunization fraud case

Chanteé Lans Image
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 12:33AM
91 Long Island school districts reportedly subpoenaed in immunization fraud case
Chantee Lans reports on the immunization fraud case on Long Island.

MINEOLA, Long Island (WABC) -- Nearly 100 Long Island school districts have reportedly been subpoenaed by officials in New York, in connection to what could be one of the country's largest childhood immunization fraud cases in history.

In September of 2024, the Department of Health said it had determined Julie Devuono, a nurse practitioner from Long Island, had falsified more than 1,500 pediatric vaccination records so that students could be allowed into school districts. Each child is required to receive multiple vaccines to attend school.

Devuono, who previously pleaded guilty in 2023 to falsifying childhood vaccination records and selling more than a million dollars' worth of fake COVID-19 vaccine cards, has once again been thrusted into the spotlight.

It comes after a Newsday report revealed that 91 Long Island school districts, which is nearly three quarters of the 124 school districts on Long Island, have been subpoenaed by the New York State Health Department, making it one of the largest childhood immunization fraud cases in the nation.

And it's not just Long Island. According to Newsday, state investigators believe students from school districts in Queens, the Bronx, Hudson Valley, and as far as near Albany, might have had falsified vaccine records from Devuono.

The 57-year-old former nurse practitioner from Amityville owned a practice called Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Lindenhurst.

The Department of Health held hearings last month and are expected have more next month in March.

Devuono was sentenced last year to community service in Pennsylvania, where she now lives. As part of a plea deal, she surrendered her New York nursing licenses.

Eyewitness News reached out to her attorney for comment, and are waiting to hear back.

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