The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday released the first images of a COVID-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits.
Photo by EJ Hersom, DOD
The cards will be sent out as part of the kits from Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s coronavirus vaccine initiative, according to KTLA sister station KRON in San Francisco.
“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, explained in a CNN report.
The CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook noted that most of the coronavirus vaccines will require two doses, administered roughly 3 to 4 weeks apart, and that recipients will have to receive both doses from the same manufacturer. The vaccines “will not be interchangeable,” the federal agency stressed.
Last month, the Defense Department said it was redefining its plans for delivering the vaccine nationwide.
“The CDC brings a lot to the table. They get vaccines out every year, from children’s immunizations to the flu vaccine,” said Paul Ostrowski, Operation Warp Speed Director for Supply, Production and Distribution. “So the CDC, Health and Human Services and our Department of Defense Planners, who got after the manufacturing piece and are working with the states to plan for every distribution contingency — create a powerful force.”
No vaccine has been authorized for use yet in the U.S., but the preliminary results of ongoing clinical trials have been encouraging for Moderna’s and Pfizer’s candidates. If the Food and Drug Administration allows emergency use of one or both of those vaccines, there will be limited, rationed supplies before the end of the year.
Operation Warp Speed officials announced last week that states would receive vaccine in proportion to their adult populations, at least for the first 6.4 million doses and possibly beyond.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.