MEMPHIS \u2014 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs) working at the port of Memphis flagged a suspicious shipment coming from Shenzhen, China en route to the central business district of New Orleans. It was described in the manifest as \u201cPAPER CARD, PAPER\u201d and CBPOs already knew what it was. It was the 15th such shipment of the night. Inside were 51 low quality, counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards. The cards have blanks for the recipient\u2019s name and birthdate, the vaccine maker, lot number, and date and place the shot was given, as well as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) logo in the upper right corner. However, there were typos, unfinished words, and some of the Spanish verbiage on the back was misspelled. How else did they know it was counterfeit? It was imported by a non-CDC or medical entity, and this was not the first time they had seen this shipper.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the manifests describe the shipments as \u201cPaper Greeting Cards\/ Use For-Greeting Card,\u201d sometimes they are \u201cPAPER PAPER CARD,\u201d but they are always from China. Though they may come in packs of 20, 51, 100, there are never any attempts to conceal them in anything. They aren\u2019t hidden in books, nor are they stuffed in the back of framed paintings. The recipients of this ubiquitous contraband are unfortunately all over the United States. This fiscal year to date, Memphis has made 121 seizures totaling 3,017 of these vaccination cards.<\/p>\n