Teacher Who Injected Teen With COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Community Service Sentence

A former New York high school teacher who allegedly injected a teen with a COVID-19 vaccine without his parents’ consent got a slap on the wrist Friday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

Laura Russo, 55, pleaded guilty to the unauthorized practice of medicine and disorderly conduct and was subsequently sentenced to 100 hours of community service under interim probation, Fox News reported. The court also ordered Russo to undergo therapy twice a week and to stay away from the victim, the outlet added.

Prosecutors agreed to the plea “based on the defendant’s long-standing ties to the community and her lack of a criminal record,” Fox News reported.

A former Long Island high school teacher accused of injecting a teen with a COVID-19 vaccine at her home pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to community service and probation, avoiding a felony charge that could have sent her to prison. https://t.co/ctIjgGQzJR

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) December 18, 2022

Russo was arrested in January following reports that she had administered a COVID-19 vaccine to a 17-year-old teen in her home without his parents’ permission. The teen victim went home and informed his mother, who called the police.

“There you go, at home vaccine”. Police have arrested a Long Island mother for illegally giving a 17 year old boy a shot of Covid vaccine in her home. And there’s video….Only on @NBCNewYork #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/KpG5vAQaDT

— Pei-Sze Cheng (@PeiSzeCheng4NY) January 3, 2022