Photos with the COVID-19 vaccination card as a badge of honor have been circulating on social media for months, but the card is more than food for selfies, it could be your ticket to freedom for the next few months – so it should be protected as such .
The precious paper card contains vital information, including the brand of vaccine you received and the dates you were vaccinated. According to public health experts, keeping that information on hand is crucial in case you need it to prove your vaccination status, or to streamline potential future booster shots.
Vaccination records can likely eventually be replaced if they are lost or damaged, but it is especially important to take good care of your vaccination records during this pandemic when the country’s health care systems are scarce.
“A vaccination card is a tool that people can use to indicate that they have a certain level of protection against COVID,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an ABC News associate 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 tickets can do is make something like international travel easier by avoiding quarantine or testing requirements,” Amesh Adalja, MD, FIDSA, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told ABC News.
The logistics surrounding how a “vaccine passport” would work is still under discussion. “Nothing has been applied yet,” said Adalja.
Still, the COVID vaccination card is by no means the first of its kind. For example, some countries require proof of yellow fever vaccination, and many public and private schools require enrolled children to be fully vaccinated.
All vaccinations administered in the US must have a paper trail, but if your vaccination chart can help you navigate our new standard, you may want to handle it with caution.
Below, our specialists answer frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccination card and how it may be used in the future.
Why is it important to keep your vaccination card?
“It’s important for people to know what vaccine they got and when they got their shot,” said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, vice chair of the global health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and an emerging biosafety leader at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told ABC News. “It is your proof that you got your vaccine.”
While vaccine studies are still ongoing, the vaccine brand and lot number on your card may be relevant when it comes time for a booster dose, she said.
“Whether in school, entertainment or travel, there will be an expectation that to resume these activities you will need to be retested and quarantined or provide proof of immunization,” said Brownstein.
What if I lose my card?
It is possible to get a double blank card, but you must fill it in with your vaccination details. Fortunately, both the institution and the state where you received your vaccine should keep these records.
According to Adalja, “you have to go back to where you were vaccinated,” and if that doesn’t work, you have another option: call your state health department, which also keeps records.
Every state has an immunization database, Kuppalli explained, but that data is not shared across state lines.
Some national chains, such as CVS and Walgreens, also promise to have apps that show vaccination records if you got your vaccines from them.
What do I do with my card if I have it?
Kuppalli suggests that her patients take a picture of the card on their phone. Brownstein agrees, adding that the card should then be put away to be kept safe along with other important documents, such as Social Security cards or passports.
Because cards contain identifying information such as your name and date of birth, you can also hide that information when you post a selfie with the card online.
Will vaccination records go digital in the future?
Several private companies and organizations are developing safe apps that use a person’s vaccination records to verify COVID-19 immunity – instead of requiring people to rely on a fragile piece of paper forever.
International standards will have to be set before a digital “vaccine passport” can be accepted anywhere in the world. It “will take some work,” said Brownstein, but multinational companies such as the World Health Organization are thinking about these challenges.
What about online ads claiming to sell vaccination cards?
Public health officials are deeply concerned about fraud with these cards, which is another reason digital verification could be important for vaccine passport development.
Never buy a vaccination card online – even seemingly reliable sources sell a fraudulent product.
Is there any reason I wouldn’t want a vaccination report?
Your local public health department already keeps a record of COVID-19 testing and vaccination status under lock and key, so shredding that vaccination card won’t give you extra privacy.
And in the “new normal” as we come out of the pandemic, the vaccination card might just be your “ticket to normalcy,” Brownstein said.
Leah Croll, MD, is a neurology resident of NYU Langone Health and an employee of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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