With the Food and Drug Administration expected to approve COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna in the coming days, it's possible that many Americans will begin to receive vaccinations within weeks.
However, both the vaccines require two shots that need to be taken several weeks apart — and officials worry that some Americans may forget to get their second shot.
That's why officials said Wednesday that they are including reminder cards in each ancillary COVID-19 vaccination kit.
According to the Department of Defense, the person administering vaccines will hand out a paper card after injecting the first dose of the vaccine. The cards will include the day that the first dose had been administered and the day that the patient will need to return to receive their second dose.
Operation Warp Speed officials also say vaccine administers will also encourage patients to take a photo of the card with their cell phone or set up a reminder alert so they can remember the date of their next appointment even if they lose the card.
On Wednesday, Gen. Gus Perna — the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed — said that pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens might be able to set up notifications and appointments for a second shot for those who receive the vaccine.
CNN also reports that some vaccination clinics may ask patients to provide a cell phone number to help remind them about the second shot.
All clinics will need to report each vaccination to a state registry in order to track instances where a person receives a shot from two different clinics.
Johnson & Johnson is in the process of developing a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. While officials on Wednesday said the vaccine is on track to reach efficacy thresholds by the end of the month, it likely won't be available until later in 2021.
