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VERIFY: Is it safe to laminate your COVID-19 vaccine card?

Many have gotten their COVID-19 shot and are now wondering the best ways to maintain their vaccine cards. Will lamination ruin anything?

WASHINGTON — The Verify Team is here to fact-check the questionable things you see circulating on social media. 

Right now, our inbox is flooded with a ton of questions on the COVID-19 vaccine and what you should do once you've been vaccinated. Many have asked about what to do with their COVID-19 vaccination cards and how to care for them after they get one.

QUESTION:

Will Staples laminate your COVID-19 vaccination record card for free? Will laminating your card ruin it? 

ANSWER: Staples will laminate your COVID-19 vaccine card for free, but only until April 3, 2021. To see if the lamination would ruin your card, it depends on if your card contains stickers and how they were printed.

SOURCE:

  • Staples 

PROCESS:

One Reddit thread picked up traction in the last couple of weeks, with users asking where they could get their vaccination cards laminated and whether or not they should. Some on the thread even posted saying Staples was offering free lamination for COVID-19 cards specifically.

This is true.

Our researchers went straight to Staples to get you the answers. They confirmed that yes, you can get your COVID-19 vaccination card laminated for free and any location until April 3, 2021. You would just need to use the coupon code 81450.

As for if lamination causes any possible damage to the card, Staples said it depends on how the card was printed.

RELATED: VERIFY: What should you do if you lose your COVID vaccination card?

"If your card has stickers that were printed using a thermal printer, then yes, the heat used during the lamination process will turn the sticker black and ruin it," a statement from the company reads.

To tell if the sticker is a thermal one, Staples said to gently scratch it with your fingernail. If the scratch turns black, the sticker is thermal, and you shouldn't laminate the original card.

Instead, make a photocopy of your card and, laminate that one. You can keep your original one someplace safe.

And remember, vaccination cards have personal information on them, so the FBI says to keep vaccine card pictures off of social media.

Have something you want Verified? Talk to our researchers! Verify@WUSA9.COM

RELATED: VERIFY: Beware of a text scam claiming to send pandemic relief money from the World Bank

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