Pharmacy chains hope information from vaccine seekers could translate to new business, while privacy watchdogs are calling for restrictions on the data.
Millions of Americans streaming through retail pharmacies to receive Covid vaccines have no choice but to hand over their personal information to those companies, raising red flags for privacy watchdogs who are pressing for oversight of how the pharmacies may use the data bonanza to boost their profits.
Pharmacy chains like CVS Health, Walgreens, Rite Aid and others are playing an increasingly larger role in the nationwide inoculation effort, as vaccines become more widely available in the coming weeks. While providing vaccinations themselves aren’t a major moneymaker for the retailers, they have been able to scoop up data on new customers that could prove to be valuable.
Many of the pharmacies require people to provide at least phone numbers or email addresses at the point of booking an appointment. Some others — including Walgreens, Sam’s Club and parent company Walmart, and Health Mart Pharmacy — require that people create online user accounts before they can search their websites for still-limited vaccine appointments.
The stores’ online appointment portals usually don’t make explicit how the companies will use the information customers are providing. Privacy watchdog groups and some members of Congress have expressed concern about whether the pharmacy chains will use that data for marketing, like selling ibuprofen or other products to deal with aftereffects of the shots. And they caution that less tech-savvy patients hunting for appointments may unwittingly join pharmacy loyalty programs that could bombard them with unexpected marketing emails and texts.
“We don’t want to see folks in their desire to get vaccinated — and frankly, protect themselves and their loved ones — be in any way taken advantage of,” said Andrew Crawford, a lawyer at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Some prominent consumer rights organizations, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, on Friday sent a letter urging a group of Democratic state attorneys general to investigate how major pharmacy retailers are using data from Covid vaccine sign-ups. They’re also pressuring those retailers to keep that information separate from marketing or business databases and only collect the minimum amount of information necessary for vaccine appointments.
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Millions of Americans streaming through retail pharmacies to receive Covid vaccines have no choice but to hand over their personal information to those companies, raising red flags for privacy watchdogs https://t.co/W9WgrfFW6F
— POLITICO (@politico) April 3, 2021
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