Walmart providing digital COVID vaccine records for customers

Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant Walmart is offering shoppers increased access to their health data through a free, secure digital wallet that consumers own and decide whether to use to share their health information, including their COVID-19 vaccine record.

The offering provides individuals with an opportunity to securely store their COVID-19 vaccine record in their pharmacy account on Walmart.com or Samsclub.com. The vaccine record can be printed, saved on a device or shared, giving people the option to use their record however they want.

“We are committed to giving people convenient, secure access to their health data, starting with COVID-19 vaccine immunization records,” said Dr. Cheryl Pegus, EVP, Walmart Health & Wellness. “Our tool gives individuals a safe method to privately keep track of this information on their smartphone or computer, while also encouraging them to take ownership of their health data by determining exactly where, when or if they share their documentation.”

The vaccine record is a free digital version of the vaccine cards issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the individual’s name, date of birth, date of vaccination, vaccine manufacturer, vaccine lot number and location where they received the immunization, so people no longer have to worry about losing their paper copy. Walmart’s digital vaccine record is available to those age 18 and over who received their COVID-19 vaccine at a Walmart or Sam’s Club pharmacy or a Walmart-run vaccine event.

Related:Walmart begins COVID-19 vaccine clinics for adolescents at schools

Walmart's vaccine record is a free digital version of the vaccine cards issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Individuals can log into their Walmart or Sam’s Club account and request the vaccine record as a QR code in a few simple steps. The Walmart record is available now and Sam’s Club is expected to be available next week. Launching in the future will be additional functionality that will allow families to bundle their records and access records for those under age 18.

Walmart uses the SMART Health Cards standard defined by the Vaccination Credential Initiative, which means the digital vaccine record can be safely and privately shared with other compatible services if someone chooses, following all HIPAA privacy guidelines. This includes Health Pass by CLEAR, a free, mobile experience within the CLEAR app and the free CommonPass and CommonHealth apps from The Commons Project Foundation, a nonprofit public trust that builds technology for public good.

Walmart, which operates more than 5,100 stores in the United States, has been at the forefront of the efforts to fight COVID since the pandemic began, with ambitious testing efforts since last spring and the rollout of vaccinations at Walmart stores, which began in December.  

Related:Walmart, Sam’s Club begin walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations

Through the morning of June 18, 53% of the U.S. population had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, with 44.5% fully immunized, according to CDC data. Among adults, 65% had received at least one dose, with 55.2% fully vaccinated. Overall 314.9 million of the 377.2 million vaccines delivered by manufacturers have been administered.