Tom Kocanda is an enterprise security education consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. In his role, he helps employees learn how to stay safe online.
As COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available, the number of Nebraskans who are getting the highly anticipated arm poke is also quickly increasing. For many, it’s a welcome relief—a hopeful sign of getting back to normal—and they want to share their experience.. Before sharing your vaccine experience, though, keep the following safety tips in mind to help protect yourself, and your community, during the vaccine roll-out:
Never share a photo of your vaccine card
Generally, when you get your vaccine, you’ll also get a vaccination card—it’s to help keep track of any needed follow-up doses and to make tracking vaccine distribution a bit easier for health officials. Keep this vaccine card safe. Treat it as you would your Social Security card. And definitely don’t post of photo of it on social media. Here’s why:
- That card has a lot of personal information on it. Sharing it on the internet could make you more susceptible to identity theft or other types of fraud.
- Authorities are already seeing cases of scammers selling fake vaccination cards on eBay and TikTok. Keeping the details of your card private could also help prevent others from creating rip-off versions that ultimately endanger the community’s health.
This doesn’t mean you can’t share your vaccine experience. If you want to share your vaccine status on social media, the Better Business Bureau recommends you share the vaccine sticker you were given — it’s kind of like an “I Voted” sticker — or use the profile frame options of your favorite social network to display that you’re helping crush COVID-19.
For more information about staying safe online during COVID-19, check out the National Cybersecurity Alliance COVID-19 Security Resource Library.
