On December 31, millions of Americans celebrated New Year's Eve indoors, either already sick with COVID-19 or trying hard to avoid getting it. But according to prosecutors in Long Island, New York, Laura Parker Russo rang in the New Year in a slightly less conventional way — by administering a COVID-19 shot to her friend's teenage son.
The only problem? Russo isn't a trained medical professional, nor is she authorized to be giving vaccinations to members of the public. And, to add insult to injury, the Long Island mom reportedly injected the 17-year-old without his parents' consent.
The alleged illegal vaccination, which reportedly happened at Russo's home, was captured on cellphone video.
The footage was later shared on TikTok, where it showed Russo giving the shot to the unnamed teen as she jokingly reassured him, "You'll be fine — I hope!"
Laura Parker Russo is facing a felony charge and potential prison time for injecting the COVID vaccine into the arm of a 17-year-old inside her home on New Year's Eve.
— NECN (@NECN) January 23, 2022
"You'll be fine — I hope," Russo can be heard saying as she administered the shot. https://t.co/46qrATKNSe
Believe it or not, the social media footage wasn't actually what got the Long Island mom busted. Apparently, the teen began experiencing some minor symptoms shortly after the shot, and eventually caved and told his mother what happened when he wasn't feeling well.
It wasn't long before Russo received a knock on her door from police.
Russo, who also works as a science teacher at a nearby high school, reportedly didn't deny that she'd given the boy a COVID shot. But through her lawyers, she's insisted that she was merely trying to help and only had good intentions for doing it.
As for where she got the vaccine? She claimed it was a Johnson & Johnson shot, obtained from a nearby pharmacy. (Needless to say, that pharmacy is now under investigation.)
Russo may not have expected how upset her friend would become after learning her son was vaccinated without permission.
But as she later learned, authorities weren't too amused by the incident, either.
"It was almost treated like they were doing something funny and it’s not funny when you’re breaking the law and injecting children," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly told reporters.
Russo's attorney, Michael Dergarabedian, told reporters that his client never had any ill will.
In fact, she really did think she was doing a good thing.
"She’s a graduate of Cornell, she’s been a teacher for 35 years, and she’s got no criminal record," Dergarabedian shared.
Furthermore, "she's got parents and people who live with her who are diabetic, and she’s constantly giving medicine," Dergarabedian added, in an attempt to explain why Russo had syringes at home and felt qualified enough to administer a vaccine.
To be clear, the J&J vaccine *is* proven to be safe and effective in preventing severe cases of COVID.
(And considering the recent surge in cases of the omicron variant of COVID, getting vaccinated and boosted is definitely crucial, if you're eligible for it.)
But so far, the J&J shot has only been authorized for use in patients 18 years or older — not 17, like the boy in this case. In addition, the shot should only be administered by a certified medical professional at a designated vaccination site. (And no, that doesn't include your high school science teacher's kitchen.)
"Any professional teacher, lawyer, CPA knows that we are licensed by the state for a reason," Donnelly said. "No one should take it upon themselves to think, 'I know enough to do this.'"
