VANCOUVER -- As more people in British Columbia and across Canada receive COVID-19 vaccines, social media feeds look likely to be hit by a flood of vaccine-card selfies.
Posting a photo of yourself holding up your vaccine card isn't inherently a bad idea, according to Jesse Miller, social media educator for mediatedreality.com.
Miller describes vaccine selfies - or "vaxxies" - as an example of "positive participation." They show that the poster was willing and able to get vaccinated and can encourage others to do so as well.
But there's an inherent risk to posting a photo of a personal document on social media, Miller says.
"Even prior to the pandemic, we tried our absolute best to get individuals to know that highlighting personal information on social media could be detrimental," he says.
Fraudsters could use photos of vaccination cards to produce fake documents, something Miller says is likely to happen as more people get vaccinated and proof of immunization becomes a requirement for participation in certain events or travel to certain destinations.
For those looking to share a vaccine selfie, Miller recommends taking a moment to edit the image before posting.
"It's as simple as redacting some of that information from the card and then posting it with that information not available."
