Why Social Media is no Place for Your COVID Vaccine Selfie
After more than year, we’re starting to see promising signs that we may be emerging from the pandemic. As the vaccine becomes available to more of us, we may be tempted to document this exciting life event on social media. However, the Better Business Bureau and the FTC are advising against doing so for a couple of reasons:
1) You could be inviting identity theft.
Your vaccination card has information on it that could be used to steal your identity such as: your full name, date of birth, where you received your vaccine and the date.
2) It could help scammers create phony vaccine cards.
The more pictures of available cards, the easier it is to forge them. While the Better Business Bureau states this scam hasn’t made its’ way to the U.S. yet, it’s only a matter of time.
Instead of posting a picture of your vaccination card, there are other ways you can share your excitement about rolling up your sleeve. One option is to post a picture of the sticker you receive from the health care facility. There are also special photo frames you can put around your profile photo to convey your vaccination status.
And while you’re at it, take this time to check your privacy settings to ensure they reflect who you are comfortable with seeing your posts, for example, just your followers or friends.
If you’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus, please accept our sincerest congratulations! But remember, we don’t need to see your vital information all over our social feeds.