Police Investigating Theft Of COVID Vaccination Cards, N95 Masks From Pennsylvania Hospital
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police are investigating an apparent theft at Pennsylvania Hospital. Investigators say blank COVID-19 vaccination cards and N95 masks were stolen from the hospital.
Philadelphia police are working to find out who stole blank vaccination cards and N95 masks from a storage room at Pennsylvania Hospital's vaccine clinic on South 8th Street.
Detectives are investigating whether one of the hospital's own employees stole the items.
The senior director of the clinic reported the items missing on Jan. 25. All hospital staff has access to the storage room. Police say there were no signs of forced entry.
"It's crazy. There are so many people who need those items and you know for someone maybe potentially who works there to steal that, that's just like you never know who you can trust," Philadelphia resident Abby Baker said.
Law enforcement officials say fake vaccination cards are a hot item on the black market.
Restaurants in Philadelphia are required to ask customers to show proof of vaccination before they're allowed to sit down and eat.
"When you have people go in there and they say that they're fully vaccinated and they're not, it increases the risk to everyone that's in that restaurant," James Garrow said.
Garrow is a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Health Department, which has distributed more than three million vaccination cards to people who got the shot.
"The health department maintains all of our vaccines and the vaccine ancillary supplies, like the shot cards, under lock and key," Garrow said, "but we understand as we distribute the vaccine and all of these things like vaccine cards out to our partners, they may not have the capacity to do that."
Eyewitness News asked police and Penn Medicine if there was any surveillance video of the theft, but neither one provided any.
Police say the exact number of masks and shot cards that were stolen is unknown.
Penn Medicine said in a statement, "Safety and security are top priorities in all of our facilities. When this issue was discovered, we promptly reported it to the Philadelphia police and are cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation."
The health department says it's difficult to tell fake vaccination cards from real ones, so sometimes inspectors offer guidance to restaurants to help them distinguish the counterfeits.
The health department also recommends that restaurants ask customers for ID to make sure that the name on the ID matches the name on the vaccination card.