As both Covid-19 vaccines waiting to be approved in the US require two doses, Americans will be given a ‘vaccine card’ to keep track of them, nonprofits working with the government on the program told reporters.
“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,” Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, told CNN on Thursday.
Let’s do the simple, easy thing first. Everyone’s going to get that.
The IAC is a nonprofit working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote vaccinations since 1994. Moore added that many places will ask patients to volunteer their cell phone number, so they can get a text when their next dose is due.
Every vaccine administered will be reported to the state immunization registry, so the clinics can check in the database whether the patients have received their shots. They will also be reported to the CDC, according to Claire Hannan of the Association of Immunization Managers, another nonprofit working with the health authorities.
The cards were part of the Covid-19 ‘vaccination kits’ depicted in photos released on Wednesday by the Pentagon, which has been tasked by the Trump administration with distributing the vaccines across the US.
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The existence of vaccination cards to be issued to everyone and databases to keep track of them has caused some unease among Americans, with some speculating that it is yet another step in the crackdown on civil liberties under the guise of fighting the pandemic.
Others wondered why a vaccine card is fine but voter ID is not – or the other way around.
Pfizer and Moderna are awaiting government approval for their vaccines. Depending on when that takes place, the first doses may officially ship out as early as December 15, according to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine program. However, the mass shipments of the Pfizer vaccine have already begun ahead of approval, with the shots reportedly being “pre-positioned” at warehouses near hospitals.
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Moncef Slaoui, the program’s chief adviser, said Wednesday that 100 million Americans – almost a third of the country – could be vaccinated against the coronavirus by February.
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