Lost COVID-19 vaccine card: What to do (and other advice) – Los Angeles Times

The big day is finally here: Its time for your second vaccine dose. Youve got your ID, youve confirmed your appointment time, and wait hang on a second where did that card go?

Youre not the first person to misplace that piece of paper. Google searches for lost vaccine card have ticked up through 2021 as more and more people have gotten vaccinated (currently standing at roughly 1 in 3 Californians).

Its not the only question people have had about what to do with their vaccine card. Heres a list of dos and donts for the most exciting piece of paper youll get this year.

Return for your second appointment as planned with your ID. Your vaccination record regardless of where you received the shot will be registered in the California Immunization Registry (CAIR). The provider should have you in the system from last time, and they will be able to issue you a new card.

Most healthcare providers are connected to CAIR. People can ask their healthcare provider if they are able to access this record and provide a printed copy, a representative for L.A. County Public Health wrote in an email.

If you lost your card after your second dose, reach out to wherever you got your shots and ask them for a replacement. Again, your information should be in the system, so it shouldnt be a problem to get you another one. You can also request your vaccination record directly from CAIR.

If you booked your appointment at a city-led mass vaccination site through Carbon Health, youll get a secure digital vaccine record called Health Pass as well as the paper card, said CEO and co-founder Eren Bali.

Staples and Office Depot are offering free lamination for vaccine cards, but dont take them up on it. The heat from the laminating machine can damage the ink. Also, you may need to get a COVID vaccine booster in the future, the county public health department noted, so its probably best to leave it unlaminated. A better way to protect it: a clear plastic sleeve, like a badge ID holder. You might have an old one on a lanyard from a conference kicking around somewhere.

Make sure your name and date of birth are correct. Ideally, youll do this before you leave your first appointment, but if thats already in the past, its still good to check. Ask the provider for a replacement with corrected information if something is wrong.

Discussions of so-called vaccine passports are mostly theoretical at this point. Theres no reason to carry your card in your wallet at all times right now. Keep it somewhere secure in your house like you would any other important document.

UPDATED April 9, 2021 | 5:36 PM

Only in public or around unvaccinated people, according to the CDC. If youre around other fully vaccinated people in a private setting, go ahead and take your masks off.

Yes, you can visit one other household with unvaccinated people, indoors and without masks even, as long as they and anyone they live with are at low risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19. Avoid mixing with more than one household at a time.

Be sure to check and follow the rules in place for wherever youre headed, but in general, yes. And you dont have to quarantine when you return home.

The CDC recommends that you do not. In California, stadiums and other large venues that are opening are doing so with limited capacity and physical distancing and other measures in place.

Suggested reading for the vaccinated:

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As a back-up for the physical card, you can take photos of the front and back of it and email those to yourself.

Some people have shared vaccine selfies with their birth dates covered up, ostensibly for identity theft protection. Thats good its never smart to share personal information like that online. But you really dont want to be widely sharing the other information on the card either, Bali said, particularly as stories crop up about people trying to create fake ones: You dont want to make it even easier to do that by conveniently providing a recent lot number.

Every person who shares a photo of themselves beaming with a fresh shoulder Band-Aid helps the cause, Bali said. Vaccine hesitancy has decreased as the rollout has progressed, but your photo could be the difference for someone you know to go from thinking, nah, Ill wait a while longer and see how it goes to if this person feels OK about it, so do I.

A smiling person is definitely more effective than a photo of a vaccination record, Bali said.

You heard it here: Post your selfies. Its good for your (and the publics) health.

Excerpt from:

Lost COVID-19 vaccine card: What to do (and other advice) - Los Angeles Times