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You got a vaccine. Walgreens got your data.

Vox – Retail pharmacies are now giving out Covid-19 vaccines, and some of them are using it as an opportunity to profit off your information. “… If you schedule a Covid-19 vaccine appointment with major pharmacy chains such as Walgreens or CVS, your data may be used to bulk up those companies’ own significant marketing apparatuses, giving them a source of income even beyond what they’re paid for administering the vaccines and whatever you might decide to buy while you’re in the store to get one. In some cases, you’re forced to make an account with the store to get a vaccine at all, and deactivating your mandatory account after the fact isn’t easy….When you go to the Walgreens vaccine scheduler, you can find out if there are vaccines available in your area, but you can’t see where and when appointments are available — let alone schedule one — without first making a Walgreens account. And that means giving Walgreens the information it considers necessary to make that account, including your name, date of birth, phone number, address, gender (male or female are the only options), and email address. You’re also automatically signing up to receive marketing emails, which you can only opt out of later through your account settings. Oh, and you’re encouraged to join the myWalgreens loyalty program, which gives Walgreens even more data about your purchases and automatically signs you up for even more marketing emails…Walgreens, for instance, will use your data to target ads to you on its website, on social media, and in marketing emails — as detailed in Walgreens’ own privacy policy…”

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