Video Shows Long Island High School Teacher Allegedly Administering COVID Vaccine To Teenager Illegally
SEA CLIFF, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There's new video showing a Long Island woman who has no medical qualifications allegedly giving a teenager a COVID-19 vaccine.
The two are not related, and the 17-year-old boy's mother did not give her permission.
The incident happened inside a Victorian-era Sea Cliff home on New Year's Eve.
The homeowner, 54-year-old Laura Parker Russo, can be seen in the video telling the teenager, "You'll be fine, I hope."
"Here you go. At-home vaccine," the teenager says.
As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reports, officials say the teenager wanted the vaccine, but his parents were against it.
Doctors called the incident "irresponsible" because the vaccine could have been corrupted, and the Herricks High School biology teacher appeared unversed in medical protocol.
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It's the talk of the community.
"The parent needs to take their personal view hat off," one man said.
"Underage children should not be able to make decisions for themselves," another man said.
"I would be extremely upset if someone vaccinated my minor child without my consent," one woman said.
"As a parent, I would be upset. As the child, he thought he did what was right," another woman said.
Multiple colleges and universities in the Tri-State area report that students are seeking the COVID vaccine contrary to their parents' wishes.
"Individuals are waiting until the age of 18 until they can be essentially in charge of their own health care and they choose to get vaccinated at that time. I find these individuals largely to be very well-educated. They have been carefully monitoring the science," Adelphi University epidemiologist Dr. K.C. Rondello said.
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Russo is charged with an E felony and faces 1 and one-third to 4 years behind bars for unauthorized practice of a profession.
"She had obtained a vaccine. That's still under investigation on how she got it," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. "When he went home and told his mother what happened, the mother contacted police."
Russo has been reassigned in her school district, pending the outcome of the investigation. Prosecutors will hear her side of the story at the end of January.
Russo did not respond to CBS2's request for comments.
