Photos displaying the COVID-19 vaccination card as a badge of honor have been touring on social media for months, but the card is more than fodder for selfies, it could be your ticket to freedom in the coming months – so it would must be protected as such.
The precious paper contains vital information, including the brand of vaccine you received and the date you were immunized. According to public health experts, it is crucial to keep this information handy if you need it to prove your vaccination status or to streamline possible future booster photos.
Vaccination records can eventually be replaced if they are lost or damaged, but it is especially important to take care of your vaccination records during this pandemic, when the country’s health care systems are in place.
“A vaccination card is a tool that people can use to declare that they have a certain level of protection against COVID,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an ABC News contributor and epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. “Being able to assess immunity to COVID is a critical part of trying to get back to our daily lives.”
“What these little books can do is make things like international travel easier by avoiding quarantine or testing requirements,” Amesh Adalja, MD, FIDSA, an infectious disease specialist and principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told ABC News.
The logistics of how a “vaccine passport” would work are still under discussion. “Nothing has been implemented yet,” Adalja said.
Even so, the COVID vaccination card is hardly the first of its kind. Some countries, for example, require proof of yellow fever vaccination, and many public and private schools require full vaccination of enrolled children.
All vaccinations given in the US should have a paper trail, but if your vaccination card can help you navigate our new normal, we recommend that you treat it with care.
Below, our specialists answer frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccination card and how it can be used to move forward.
Why is it important to keep your vaccination card?
“It’s important for people to have a record of the vaccine they received and when they got the work shots,” said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, vice president of the global health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and an emerging leader in biosafety at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, he told ABC News. “It’s your proof you got your vaccine.”
Although vaccine studies are still ongoing, the brand of the vaccine and the batch number on your card may be relevant when it comes time for a booster dose, she said.
“Whether it’s school, entertainment or travel, there will be an expectation that to resume these activities you must be retested and quarantined or present proof of immunization,” Brownstein said.
What happens if I lose my card?
You may get a duplicate blank card, but you will need to fill it in with your vaccination information. Fortunately, both the institution and the state in which you received your vaccine should keep these records.
According to Adalja, “you should go back to the place where you were vaccinated” and, if that doesn’t work, you have another option: call the state health department, which also keeps a record.
Each state has an immunization database, Kuppalli explained, but these data are not shared between state lines.
Some national chains, such as CVS and Walgreens, also promise to have applications that show vaccination records if you received the vaccines with them.
What should I do with my card after I have it?
Kuppalli suggests that patients take a photo of the card on their phones. Brownstein agrees, adding that the card should then be stored for safekeeping along with other important documents, such as social security cards or passports.
Also, because the cards have identifying information – such as name and date of birth – consider hiding this information if you post a selfie with the card online.
Will there be digital vaccination records in the future?
Several companies and private organizations are developing secure applications that will use an individual’s immunization records to test COVID-19’s immunity – rather than people relying on a fragile piece of paper forever.
International standards must be set before a digital “vaccine passport” can be accepted worldwide. “It will take some work,” Brownstein said, but multinational organizations such as the World Health Organization are considering these challenges.
What should I do with online ads that claim to sell vaccination cards?
Public health officials have serious concerns about fraud when it comes to these cards, which is another reason why digital verification can be important for the development of vaccine passports.
You should never buy a vaccination card online – even seemingly reputable sources traffic in a fraudulent product.
Is there a reason I wouldn’t want a vaccination record?
Your local public health department already keeps a record of COVID-19 tests and the status of the vaccination under lock and key, so shredding the vaccination card will not give you additional privacy.
And in the “new normal,” as we emerge from the pandemic, the vaccine card could just be “your ticket back to normal,” Brownstein said.
Leah Croll, MD, is a resident of neurology at NYU Langone Health and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
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