Vaccination Cards Will Track Everyone Who Gets a COVID-19 Vaccine
On Dec. 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released the first images of the government’s proposed COVID-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits that include a needle, syringe, alcohol wipes and a mask. The vaccination card, which will be issued to everyone who gets a COVID-19 vaccine, will be used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track who gets vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine.1 2 3 4 5 6
Recipients of the vaccines will be asked to provide their cell phone numbers so pubic health officials can contact vaccinated persons by text and remind them to return to receive a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine three or four weeks later. The two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 (BNT162b2) need to be given 21 days apart. Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine requires two doses to be given 28 days apart.1 2 4 5 6 7
Each dose of COVID-19 vaccine a person receives will be reported to the CDC.1 2
COVID-19 Vaccination Card Contains Personal Medical Information
“Everyone will be issued a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they had and when their next dose is due,” said Kelly Moore, MD, MPH, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) of Saint Paul, Minnesota. “Everyone’s going to get that.”1 2 6
Each card, written in English and Spanish, will record the first and last name of the person receiving the vaccine, along with their date of birth, medical information, the dates in which they were vaccinated and the name of who performed the vaccination and where. It will provide spaces to record the name of the vaccine given and the name of its manufacturer. It will also have spaces that could be used to record additional booster shots in the future.3 6
A “Draconian Process” to “Capture Everybody”
“We’ve set up everything [in] a draconian process, where when we sent out the ancillary kits which have needles and syringes, we’ve included paper cards to be filled out and given to the individuals, reminding them of their next vaccine due date,” said U.S. Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS) program tasked with facilitating development of COVID-19 vaccines.3
“We do know that pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens have established very elaborate tracking systems to set up appointments, notify people when their second shots are required,” Gen. Perna said. “And we’re doing our best to capture everybody to ensure that they get their second dose.3
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