GOUVERNEUR - Kinney Drugs has introduced Ask Burt, a new virtual assistant that helps individuals determine which vaccines they may be eligible to receive this year.

Ask Burt is named after the company’s founder, pharmacist Burt Orrin Kinney, who established the first Kinney Drugs in 1903 in Gouverneur.

When people use Ask Burt, they are tapping into a knowledge base that carries the latest updated guidance for vaccine eligibility for a range of vaccinations, including COVID, influenza (Flu), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), pneumonia, and shingles, said a press release from the company. As vaccine guidance continues to evolve, Burt helps patients to stay up to date, Kinney Drugs said.

“We are thrilled to introduce this new tool to help people find out which vaccines they may be eligible for,”  said John Marraffa, R.Ph., President of Kinney Drugs, and a career pharmacist. “We know that many factors go into determining who is eligible for which vaccines, and at what times. In this way, perhaps people can have some fun with learning, as there’s an interactive, engaging element to this.”

Anyone may use the Ask Burt tool – you do not need to be a patient or customer at Kinney Drugs.

To try it out, visit www.KinneyDrugs.com/Burt and open a chat with the avatar Burt. Then, interact with Burt using plain-language questions and answers. Burt will produce a list of vaccinations you may be eligible to receive and can provide a link to schedule an appointment to receive vaccine(s) in your preferred Kinney pharmacy.

Ask Burt is an Augmented Intelligence Agent that draws from a knowledge base built and maintained by the team of clinical pharmacists at Kinney. Burt does not provide medical advice, and it is not intended to replace consultation with a healthcare provider or pharmacist. Instead, Burt compares user inputs with the clinical knowledge base to generate a list of vaccinations the user may be eligible to receive.