A North Carolina police chief was suspended this week for recommending other officers to a “self-vaccination clinic," which allegedly gave COVID-19 vaccine cards to people who weren't vaccinated.

Oakboro Chief T.J. Smith was placed on unpaid administrative leave for two weeks and is on a six-month probation.

Smith admitted that when he heard about the clinic he didn’t “sit back and digest the information, ruminate on it, or otherwise give it much thought. I just passed it on," in a statement Wednesday to the Stanly News & Press.

“I made a mistake. A friend called me with some information about a mobile vaccination clinic. It was a busy morning like every other busy morning. After I got off the phone with that friend, I called two other officers (not in my department) and passed on information about what was described as a 'self-vaccination' clinic. I got one phone call, hung up and made two others,” he said.

Smith recommending the “self- vaccination clinic” to other officers was a violation of personnel policies including fraud, willful acts that endanger the property of others and serving a conflicting interest, according to a letter addressed to him from OakBoro Administrator Doug Burgess.

“Based on my review of all information available and provided that relate to your failures in personnel conduct, I am placing you on unpaid leave for two calendar weeks, beginning December 21, 2021. You are placed on probation for six calendar months," the letter read.

Burgess told CNN that the town hired Blue Chameleon Investigations, a private investigation firm, to conduct an independent probe into the matter which led them to the violations.

Smith said in the statement that he has received his COVID-19 vaccines and was only trying “to help people” where he could.

“I received my own Covid vaccines in the spring of this year from the VA hospital in Salisbury. I just try to help people where I can, and I passed on something that, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have,” Smith said.

“I’m owning that. It was a mistake, and I shared misinformation," he said.