Vermont Business Magazine Kinney Drugs today introduced Ask Burt, a virtual assistant that helps individuals determine which vaccines they may be eligible to receive this year.
Ask Burt is named after their founder, pharmacist Burt Orrin Kinney, who established the first Kinney Drugs in 1903 in Gouverneur, NY. 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. As vaccine guidance continues to evolve, Burt helps patients to stay up to date.
“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, all you need to do is visit www.KinneyDrugs.com/Burt and open a chat with the avatar Burt. Then, you 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 a team of clinical pharmacists at Kinney. Burt does not provide medical advice, and it is not intended to replace consultation with your 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.
An employee-owned healthcare company, Kinney Drugs is committed to the health and wellness of our customers, employees, and neighbors who live in the communities we serve. Upholding founder Burt Kinney’s core value of being integral to the community where he lived, our leadership and employees continue to be active in the communities we serve. Nearly 125 years and five generations later, Kinney Drugs has grown to operate nearly 100 locations across New York and Vermont. Earlier this month, we introduced two new drugstores in the Springfield and Brattleboro communities in Vermont.
GOUVERNEUR NY (September 23, 2025) - Kinney Drugs
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