NYS Health Department bars 21 providers from vaccinating kids amid fraud crackdown

With public skepticism of vaccines and outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles on the rise, the New York State Department of Health over the past four years has barred 21 healthcare providers suspected of vaccine fraud from immunizing children, including nine who have practiced or lived on Long Island.

The suspensions and permanent prohibitions came after investigations by the state's vaccine fraud unit, which was created in 2021 to combat fake COVID-19 records and later broadened to investigate suspected childhood immunization fraud. The cases it has revealed include two on Long Island that experts say are among the nation's largest known immunization fraud schemes. Former Baldwin midwife Jeanette Breen falsified vaccine records for nearly 1,500 children and former Amityville nurse practitioner Julie DeVuono did so for 162, the state said.

In other cases, investigators say, providers reported to the state's database that they used the same vaccines many times. A Rochester-area nurse who promoted anti-vaccine theories online reported using the same five-dose vaccine vial — which had a unique identifying number attached to it — 154 times. In another case, a Syosset doctor reported using vaccines with identifying numbers that didn't exist.

After the Health Department sent subpoenas for vaccine records to a doctor and physician assistant with offices in New Hyde Park and the Bronx, they asserted they were immune from state mandates because they were engaged in tribal and religious research. A Rockland County doctor made the same assertion. Judges have rejected those claims. 

Providers on the immunization-ban list and their lawyers who spoke with Newsday denied falsifying records. Others, and their attorneys, declined to comment, could not be reached for comment or did not respond to calls, texts and emails.

All 21 providers are either permanently or temporarily suspended from submitting vaccination records to schools and the electronic New York State Immunization Information System, which means they can't administer childhood vaccines.

Three early fraud cases involved allegedly falsified COVID-19 records. The other cases, though, appeared to involve state-mandated vaccines against measles, polio and other diseases for children, which are required to attend school and daycare.

Health Department spokeswoman Erin Clary said in an email that falsification of immunization records is a department priority because "any vaccination fraud puts our communities at risk, particularly the old, young, and infirm," which are among the groups most susceptible to severe illness or death from diseases like the measles.

But proving immunization fraud is "tremendously difficult," said Brian Dean Abramson, an adjunct law professor at the University of Houston who has written extensively about vaccine law, because providers falsifying records and the parents seeking bogus documents want to keep their conduct secret.

"The cases that come to light are almost certainly only a fraction of the actual total occurring," he said.

The names of the 21 doctors and nurses, as well as a pharmacist and Breen, the midwife, were put on the state's "school vaccination fraud awareness" website, which warns schools not to accept some or all immunization records of practitioners it suspects of submitting fake documentation. The website also links school officials to tips on spotting fake vaccine records.

Yet medical providers and their attorneys say publicly disclosing practitioners' names on the site unfairly stains their reputations while they wait sometimes years for their cases to be resolved. Some say the Health Department did not give them a chance to explain or defend themselves. 

Clary said the department bases its suspensions on public health law and only adds medical professionals to the fraud website if there is strong evidence.

"The Department must have proof of fraud sufficient to stand up to legal challenge and ensure the Department’s credibility when acting against fraudulent records," she said.

The Health Department has never filed administrative charges against most practitioners on the list. And for many of the 21 providers, the state has supplied scant information on their cases to Newsday or via the fraud website. Clary said the state does not discuss ongoing investigations — although it's unclear from the fraud website which investigations are incomplete.

In about half the cases, court documents, decisions by the Board for Professional Medical Conduct and other legal filings offer a window into what the state is alleging and the type of evidence it has accumulated. Among the court documents are those emanating from lawsuits filed by doctors and nurses who say their suspension of immunization privileges and placement on the fraud website violates their due process rights.

Vaccine fraud experts say they generally support the list and website. But some say the state should do more to allow doctors and nurses to defend themselves, make clear when investigations are incomplete and speed up queries so medical professionals don’t languish on the list for years.

Four providers have sued the state to get their names off the immunization-exclusion list, all alleging due process and other legal violations. In the two in which there have been decisions, judges sided with the state. Another doctor withdrew her suit. One case is pending.

Vaccine skepticism grows, religious exemption ended

Skepticism of pediatric vaccines has been growing for years. In 2001, 94% of Americans said it was extremely or very important for children to get vaccinated, compared with 69% in 2024, according to Gallup polls.

Amid that trend, New York in 2019 barred religious exemptions to school immunization requirements.

Before then, falsification of vaccine records likely was rare, because parents opposing vaccines could claim religious objections, even if religion was not really the reason, said Arthur Caplan, a professor emeritus of bioethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and an expert on vaccine fraud. No major religion has teachings against vaccines.

"Fraud expanded in direct proportion to the elimination of the religious exemption escape hatch," Caplan said.

Now someone is exempt only if a physician certifies that a vaccine is "detrimental to a child’s health."

Some providers on the list reported a large increase in administering childhood vaccines after the exemption ended, according to the state’s electronic immunization registry. For example, Dr. Carlos Rivera, a pediatrician who formerly practiced in Patchogue and Bohemia, gave no vaccines in 2019, according to the registry. In 2020, he reported 111, a number that rose sharply each year until 2023, when he reported 1,757. He was suspended from giving childhood vaccines in February 2024. 

Rivera declined to be interviewed. Chad Davenport, a Buffalo lawyer representing Rivera, said the doctor said he didn’t do anything wrong and wants a chance to clear his name. Davenport said the increase in childhood vaccinations could warrant the opening of an investigation but shouldn’t be enough to put Rivera on the fraud list. The Health Department declined to comment on his case because there is an open investigation. 

Some of the doctors and nurses on the fraud list said the Health Department misinterpreted honest clerical errors and other mistakes as vaccine fraud.

The Health Department said in court filings that in addition to using non-existent lot numbers, Syosset Dr. Faiz Khan reported administering expired vaccines and entered some immunizations in the state registry more than a year after he purportedly gave the shots. State law requires reporting immunizations within 14 days. The state suspended his ability to give pediatric vaccines in May 2024. He filed a federal lawsuit in 2025 alleging violation of due process rights, but district and appellate court judges dismissed the suit. 

Khan’s Garden City attorney, Jacques Simon, said a response to the state's specific allegations will be laid out in future legal papers. But he said that if there were discrepancies in Khan's immunization records, they could, for example, stem from the doctor accidentally typing wrong digits on his keyboard, rather than fraud.

Khan was a founder and former executive vice president for CityMD.

Dr. Jim Campasano, of Bayport, was a regional chief operating officer for the company. He was disciplined by the state for falsifying COVID-19 vaccination records in 2021. The records were for himself, his wife and three daughters, said Nicole Turso, spokeswoman for the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, which charged Campasano with tampering with public records. Campasano pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. Clary said the Health Department had referred the case to the DA's office and the department’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct, which investigates doctor misconduct.

CityMD said in a statement: "Neither of these physicians have worked for CityMD in several years. The company fully cooperated in the DOH’s investigation and there were no allegations of wrongdoing against the company in connection with the matter."

Doctors, nurses and their attorneys said the Health Department too quickly removes vaccination privileges and that even if it suspects fraud, it should not put practitioners on a public website until investigations are complete.

"I just think it's extremely unfair to be placing a lot of doctors and their practices on these lists when they don't have an opportunity to be able to defend themselves, to be able to present their side of the case, and without knowing why [they’re on the list] or knowing how to get off of it," said Davenport, who represents three people on the list.

Clary did not directly answer questions about whether the Health Department gives practitioners an opportunity to explain or defend themselves before they lose their pediatric vaccination privileges. But, she said, practitioners have recourse in the courts.

"While there is no particular appeal or objection process a provider can take to being suspended from [pediatric vaccination privileges], providers can and have challenged the Department," she wrote. "Multiple judges have reviewed these challenges and sided with the Department."

Simon, the lawyer for Khan, said doctors like his client are having their reputations sullied solely by early investigative findings.

"There has to be due process," he said. "You can't take the word of an investigator saying something. Otherwise, everybody would go to prison because the police officer says so."

Dr. Michael Purcell, of Schenectady, said the Health Department "never told me directly" why his vaccination privileges were suspended and did not know he was barred from administering immunizations until he went to his computer to upload vaccine information and couldn’t access the site.

In response to such complaints, Clary said: "The Department has updated its protocols to ensure medical professionals are informed when they have been added to the NYSIIS suspension list." 

Purcell believes he was targeted for investigation because he had publicly advised against taking COVID-19 vaccines and for housing his practice in space "gifted" by an Albany midwife who pleaded guilty to falsifying COVID-19 vaccine records and destroying more than 2,600 vaccines. (The midwife died in 2025.)

Purcell said he believes parents should not be required to vaccinate their children, but he said he is "not anti-vax" and has given vaccines to children whose families wanted them. He said he advises parents who oppose vaccines to homeschool their children, and he denied falsifying records.

'FRAUD ALERT' website debate

At least eight of the 21 medical professionals have filed lawsuits challenging their immunization exclusions and placements on the fraud list, or have challenged state subpoenas for vaccination or other medical records.

The state has won on each major ruling by a judge, which is no surprise, said Dorit Reiss, an expert in vaccine law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.

"Legally, I think they’re on very firm ground," she said. "Ethically this is a little trickier."

The fraud website has "FRAUD ALERT" in large letters, underneath which is the list of the 21 medical professionals.

In fairness to providers, the state should be more nuanced in its language, to not imply that everyone on the list is a fraudster, and to make clear when investigations of practitioners are not yet complete, Reiss said.

Abramson, the University of Houston vaccine law expert, said medical professionals give the state broad authority to regulate them as a condition of their licenses, including by notifying the public of potential fraud, even if a final determination hasn’t been made.

"It’s not a criminal procedure where you’re necessarily innocent before proven guilty or guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

But, he said, the state should formally notify all medical professionals before placing them on the list and suspending their immunization privileges. It should also create a process — even if informal — to allow them to give arguments in their defense without filing lawsuits, he said.

Several doctors told Newsday they didn’t file lawsuits or didn’t appeal decisions against them because of the cost.

Still practicing

Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, said the Health Department should refer all cases with strong evidence to state regulators who more broadly investigate medical provider misconduct.

"If it’s determined these people committed fraud, they should lose their licenses," he said.

State records show that most of the medical professionals found guilty in criminal court after being accused of fraud, or who received state administrative rulings against them, are still practicing.

Sandra Miceli, a nurse practitioner from upstate Webster, near Rochester, was in April 2024 permanently barred from administering childhood vaccines and fined $30,000 after the Bureau of Investigations found she falsified vaccine records for about 116 children. Nearly two and a half years later, she still has no disciplinary record, according to records from the Education Department, which licenses nurses. Miceli did not respond to emails and calls to her Webster office.

The Health Department found multiple irregularities in Miceli’s vaccine records, including using the same unique identifying number for a five-dose vaccine vial 154 times. The department noted she regularly posted "anti-vaccine propaganda" on social media and did not enroll her practice in the childhood immunization registry until a week after religious exemptions were barred.

Asked about Miceli’s case, the Education Department said in an email it cannot comment on investigations, including whether one was ever launched.

Several practitioners have lost their licenses. Breen surrendered her midwife license eight months after the Health Department in January 2024 fined her $150,000 for giving children homeopathic pellets but reporting them to the state as vaccines. DeVuono in July was fined $544,000 for giving kids homeopathic pellets instead of vaccines. She earlier had agreed to give up her nursing licenses, when she pleaded guilty in 2023 in criminal court for making more than $1.2 million selling falsified COVID-19 vaccine cards.

Dr. Eric Burnett, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, said doctors and nurses who commit fraud are putting people at risk and "you could be responsible for causing outbreaks of potentially harmful and deadly diseases," he said.

"We have to hold physicians and providers to a higher standard when it comes to public health," he said.