---
title: "Amazon Caught Selling Fake COVID Vaccination Cards"
description: "Amazon was found to be selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards on its platform, as a senior researcher at a media watchdog discovered."
date: "2021-06-09"
modified: "2021-06-09"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/amazon-caught-selling-fake-covid-vaccination-cards"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
---

# Amazon Caught Selling Fake COVID Vaccination Cards

![Amazon was found to be selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards on its platform, as a senior researcher at a media watchdog discovered.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amazon-caught-selling-fake-covid-vaccination-cards.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/91261194@N06/51021866706" target="\_blank"\>Jernej Furman via Flickr\</a\>\</em\>*

Amazon was found to be selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards on its platform by watchdog Media Matters for America.

https://twitter.com/OliviaLittle/status/1401987608822046720

The news comes after Media Matters senior researcher Olivia Little [discovered that](<https://twitter.com/OliviaLittle/status/1400529586996367367>) handmade and vintage goods platform Etsy was also selling phony cards, claiming to be issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Etsy has struggled to contain listings including misinformation during the pandemic, [as Little reported](<https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/etsy-profiting-fake-covid-vaccination-ids-and-misinformation-merchandise>) earlier this month.

Both marketplaces removed the listings after they were discovered, but the repeat instances show that platforms are having little success containing the flood of misinformation and fraud related to the pandemic.

The story is also symptomatic of a much larger issue. With several states outright banning the use of vaccine passports, distinguishing between those who have had their jabs and those who haven't has become practically impossible.

As the counterfeits illustrate, it's hilariously easy to make your own vaccine card to "prove" that you have been vaccinated.

That also means it is trivially easy to sidestep any vaccine requirements to get into a theater or stadium.

And that's bad news. Those who have chosen to not get vaccinated are at significantly higher risk of developing serious cases of COVID-19. According to a [recent report by *The New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/us/in-the-us-hospitalizations-are-rising-in-areas-with-low-vaccination-rates.html>), hospitalizations are on the rise again in areas with low vaccination rates.

For instance, a county in Tennessee where only 20 percent were fully vaccinated, there was a 700 percent jump in hospitalizations over just the last two weeks, in large part due to [highly contagious variants](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/large-new-coronavirus-outbreak-china>).

In other words, get your shots — and don't just phone it in.

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)