NASSAU COUNTY, N.Y. — A teacher in New York was arrested for allegedly injecting a 17-year-old boy with a COVID-19 vaccine at her home.
The teacher, identified as Laura Parker Russo by Nassau County police, is accused of giving the teen the shot on Dec. 31. The teen then went home and told his mother who did not authorize Russo to give her son the vaccine.
The mother called police, who investigated. Police said Russo is not a medical professional and is not authorized to administer vaccines. She was arrested and charged with New York State Education Law Unauthorized Practice of a Profession.
According to CBS New York, Russo is a 54-year-old biology teacher. "The individual in question is a district employee who has been removed from the classroom and reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation," the superintendent said in a statement to CBS New York.
It is unclear how Russo obtained the vaccine, or if the teen was monitored after the shot, which is standard after receiving a vaccine.
To give the vaccine, the patient needs to give consent and the administrator needs knowledge of patient allergies as well as medical knowledge. "You have to draw up the medication into sterile syringe with a needle and expel some of the air and give the injection properly," Dr. Audie Liametz, vice chair of the emergency department at NYU Langone told CBS New York.
