LITCHFIELD, Conn. — Some CT residents say Walgreen's pharmacies in CT are running out of official CDC vaccine record cards. Some residents have just been getting a slip of copy paper and they say that’s unacceptable.
After days of searching, Marianne Stillson of Goshen was excited to finally book her COVID shot here at the Litchfield Walgreens. "After it was done, she handed me a piece of paper. It’s copy machine paper," said Stilson. Walgreens told her they only received 20 official CDC vaccination cards. "So, I said I need a CDC vaccination card so I can travel and in case I have to show it. This looks like I made it at home."
The CDC says, “vaccine providers must complete these cards...” Walgreens told FOX61 they received a limited number but that team members always have access to, “digital copies of dose cards, and can print out additional dose cards from electronic records.”
But without an established digitized vaccine passport system, those CDC cards are very important. So much so, that scammers have been selling frauds online. Don Vilfer of Digital Evidence Ventures said, "It doesn’t make very good sense to me to provide personal information like your name address and date of birth for the card, along with your credit card information to someone who you know to be a scammer already who is preparing a forged document for you."
And back to Walgreens, running out of CDC cards wasn’t their only issue. FOX61 learned they’ve been booking three-week second doses of the Pfizer vaccine out four weeks. CT Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said, "My understanding is that they’ve corrected that in the meantime but often times we hear concerns from constituents, and we investigate those and if we see issues, we work to correct those as we’ve don’t throughout the vaccination program. We don’t believe that there are widespread issues there."
The CDC says second doses can be administered up to six weeks after the first dose but only, “If it’s not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval.”
If you’ve already received your CDC vaccine record card the experts say it’s a good idea to make some copies of it and take a picture of it. Staples and Office Depot are offering to laminate them for free, but some people have reported the ink becomes smudged.
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