You’ve lost your vaccine card. Stay calm and follow these steps
No one could have predicted before the pandemic that a little piece of white paper would hold so much significance. It's the key to entering some concert venues, traveling to certain countries and more.
Oh no.
Your vaccine card is missing.
You’ve searched your car, emptied your purse or backpack and torn apart your house, but your vaccine card is nowhere to be found.
No one could have predicted before the pandemic that a little piece of white paper would hold so much significance. It’s the key to entering some concert venues, traveling to certain countries and more.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to replace the precious document. Here are some options (and advice about things that don’t work).
Do not contact the CDC
It might sound logical to call the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get your card replaced. After all, its logo is on the card.
However, the agency did not give you the card. The organization provides the cards to vaccine providers, who then provide it to you. This also means the CDC does not keep track of vaccine records, so please don’t waste your time asking about that either.
It might be online
Before you begin calling around, your vaccination records may just be in your back pocket.
Some states like Arizona give people the option to view their records online. The state uses a program called MyIR Mobile, a company that partners with a handful of state departments to check your immunization history, schedule future appointments, and most importantly, print out official vaccine records. The District of Colombia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, Washington and West Virginia also use this service.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Utah use their own online systems or third-party companies for people to access their records.
You can submit a request for your vaccine records if you live in Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
If you didn’t see your state listed, it’s time to move to plan B.
Reach out to your pharmacy
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who got vaccinated at Walgreens, Walmart, CVS or Rite Aid, it’s your lucky day.
Walgreens customers should reach out to their local pharmacy to receive a new card, according to Walgreens spokesperson Rebekah Pajak. QR codes are also now available for testing and vaccines, both of which are SMART Health Cards that capture your information digitally.
If you received your vaccine at Walmart, stop by the location where you got it, said Walmart spokesperson Marilee McInnis. An employee will verify your vaccine record, confirm it using a state immunization registry, and issue the new card, she explained.
If you got your vaccine at CVS, you have several options. First, you can see your vaccine information in the CVS app or at CVS.com, said CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault. Any CVS pharmacy can also print a vaccine record as well, she added. Lastly, if you provided an email address when you scheduled your vaccine appointment online, a vaccination record is automatically emailed to you.
If Rite Aid is your go-to spot, log into your Rite Aid account online to receive a printout of your vaccination records. The company has also partnered with CLEAR, a digital vaccine card service, so you can create a digital vaccine card.
What other options are there?
If none of the options above work for you, reach out to your state department’s immunization information system. Vaccination providers are required to submit your vaccine data to IIS, according to the CDC.
They can provide you with a copy of your vaccination record, but they cannot give you a new card.
If you bring your vaccination record to your doctor’s office, staff there might be able to provide a new card.
The-CNN-Wire
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