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The COVID-19 vaccination cards became the new “I voted” stickers.
In addition to its status as a medal of honor for social media, the small piece of paper may be needed for travel, entertainment and other activities in the future.
Public health experts strongly recommend that people keep their cards handy, as this will prove their immunization status and streamline possible booster doses in the future, according to ABC News.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Richard Petty
Scott Olson / Getty CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – APRIL 2: Passenger undergoes TSA screening at a nearly deserted O’Hare International Airport on April 2, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. The airport, which normally serves 8.2 million passengers a month, has closed two of its seven runways because the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced air travel. (Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images)
“A vaccination card is a tool that people can use to declare that they have some level of protection against COVID,” John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital told ABC. “Being able to assess immunity to COVID is a critical part of trying to resume our daily lives.”
Although the logistics around the “vaccine passport” are still under discussion, they may become necessary for entry into schools, entertainment venues and other public spaces. It is a practice often used in other countries, as well as in public and private schools in the United States, which require students to be fully vaccinated.
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“What these little cards have the potential to do is make something like international travel easier, avoiding quarantine or testing requirements,” said Amesh Adalja, MD, FIDSA, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the University Health Center Johns Hopkins Security. “Nothing has been put in place yet.”
Getty A child receiving a vaccine
All COVID vaccines administered in the United States are accompanied by a paper record, informing when and what type of vaccine was administered, which may be relevant when obtaining a booster dose.
Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, vice president of the global health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and emerging leader in biosafety at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety, told ABC that people should take a photo of their card for their records . Brownstein also suggests storing it with important documents, such as social security cards and passports.
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Blank replacement cards must be available for patients to fill in their vaccination information, as both the facility and the state where it was administered must maintain these records. Adalja says: “you must go back to where you were vaccinated” or call the state health department. Although vaccination data is not shared across states, national networks like CVS and Walgreens have promised apps with vaccination records for people who get their vaccines there.
Meanwhile, several companies and private organizations are developing secure applications with people’s vaccination forms, as a digital solution for the small paper card. The World Health Organization and other multinational health organizations are working on standards for a digital “vaccine passport”.
Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme and Staples are just a few of the companies that recently offered free gifts to customers who presented their card, while Uber and Lyft are offering free rides to vaccination sites.
According to the CDC, more than one in five Americans received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 100 million doses administered in just 88 days.