NEW ORLEANS - A shipment of counterfeit cards showing proof of vaccination were seized on their way to New Orleans as the city is just days away from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine at many businesses and venues. 

The Department of Homeland Security reported Friday that a shipment from China carrying 51 false vaccination cards was flagged at a port in Memphis, Tennessee. Officials described the phony cards as "low quality," with several typos and misspellings. 

The department said in a news release that it was the fifteenth such shipment that customs officers had seized in one night. To date, officials say they've seized more that 3,000 of the fake cards across 121 seizures at the Memphis location alone. 

"Sometimes the manifests describe the shipments as 'Paper Greeting Cards/ Use For-Greeting Card,' sometimes they are 'PAPER PAPER CARD,' but they are always from China. Though they may come in packs of 20, 51, 100, there are never any attempts to conceal them in anything. "They aren’t hidden in books, nor are they stuffed in the back of framed paintings," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Friday.

On Thursday, New Orleans announced it would require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to gain entry at bars, restaurants and other venues. That mandate is set to go into effect Monday.