Report: NYC blocked unvaccinated teachers from other jobs, reported them to FBI

The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) not only terminated teachers last year who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine but also made it harder for them to find other employment and sent their fingerprints to the FBI, according to legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

New York City Mayor Eric Adams ended the vaccine mandate for city workers on February 10, 2023 — making it the longest vaccine mandate in the country. And although the 1,950 teachers who were fired for being unvaccinated were invited to reapply, the Adams administration has made them unfit for employment.

In oral arguments made last week in the case of New Yorkers for Religious Liberty v. the City of New York, ADF revealed that when the NYCDOE fired the unvaccinated teachers, it added a “problem code” in their personnel file which would sabotage their efforts to seek other employment. Problem codes indicate whether the employee had poor performance reviews, was guilty of misconduct or even engaged in criminal activity.

According to a court affidavit, an assistant principal in the Bronx named Natasha Solon who was terminated without pay found she could not find other work due to her problem code.

“And while she applied to over 60 jobs during that span, she received no offers because, as one interviewer told her, the DOE attached a problem code for her due to alleged ‘misconduct'. While she waited for a decision, her home went into foreclosure, her son had to leave college, and she was forced to get vaccinated to feed her family,” said the affidavit.

According to documents from the ADF, a former teacher and therapist at NYC’s Early Intervention Program for children with disabilities or developmental issues said she found new employment but lost it when her agency discovered her problem code.

“I was shocked that I had been flagged as ineligible to work, because such problem codes often indicate poor performance reviews, misconduct, or even criminal activity. None of these apply to me,” the employee said in her statement. “I did not understand how someone from outside the DOE could even possess this incorrect information about me, I was extremely embarrassed by its negative implications, and I was immensely disappointed that I had to inform the families that I had been assigned to that I could not service their children.”

Another affidavit states that “City officials announced that Jews who oppose the vaccine hold wrong beliefs” and denied Orthodox Jewish teacher Sarah Buzaglo a religious exemption from the mandate because, although she submitted a support letter from her rabbi, city officials cited “another Jewish leader that disagreed with Buzaglo’s Rabbi”.

Similarly, ADF Attorney John Bursch told the Daily Caller that Pope Francis’ endorsement of the vaccine made it impossible for Catholics to claim a religious exemption.

“The city simply didn’t like that some people objected to the vaccine on religious grounds and they punished them for that,” Bursch said.

But Bursch also shared that problem codes don’t just affect employment. The codes flag the teachers’ fingerprints, which are sent to the FBI and the New York Criminal Justice Services.

"When the city puts these problem codes on employees who have been terminated because of their unconstitutional policies, not only do they have this flag in their files, but their fingerprints are sent with that flag to the FBI and the New York Criminal Justice Services," Bursch said. "So it impacts their ongoing ability to get employment.".

It’s not just unvaccinated teachers who are flagged with codes. Frontline News reported this month that International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes are being used to record the COVID-19 vaccination and compliance status of all American citizens, where they remain available for use by government agencies and insurers.

The purpose of ICD codes, which were initiated and are managed by the World Health Organization (WHO), is to make the health status of individuals available to authorities and insurance programs. 

For example, a clinician might enter a patient as “4B4Z,” an ICD code which means the patient has an unspecified autoimmune disease. Someone who has a heart attack would be logged as BA41.Z for acute myocardial infarction. A patient who suffers a cerebral ischemic stroke would be tagged with the ICD-11 code 8B11.5Z. 

Since the Affordable Care Act — i.e. “Obamacare” — was passed in 2012, these codes are integrated with digital health records throughout the United States.

This is how the CDC, the FDA and the WHO can publish statistics and what they claim to be research, because the agencies collect the ICD codes from hospitals and clinics around the country. They are also intended to be used, according to the WHO, for healthcare “payment systems”.

Last year, the CDC updated the codes so that they now include ones for those who are “underimmunized” for COVID-19. Someone who has not been injected with the COVID-19 shots, for example, will receive the code Z28.310. Someone who has been partially vaccinated will be tagged as Z28.311.

Other immunization codes implemented by the CDC last year tell authorities whether an individual was non-compliant and why. ICD code Z28.2-, for example, indicates an “immunization not carried out because of patient decision for other and unspecified reason,” and Z28.1 indicates an “immunization not carried out because of patient decision for reasons of belief or group pressure”.

Yet another code indicates an “[e]ncounter for immunization safety counseling,” such as if the individual underwent “counseling” for their refusal to be vaccinated. This is a billable code, so clinicians and hospitals can be paid for these “counseling” sessions, which physician and biochemist Dr. Robert Malone likens to “re-education”.

These codes, says Dr. Malone, can also be accessed by private insurance companies and used for vaccine passports.