The small COVID-19 vaccination card is quickly becoming the must-have item of 2021.
But what should you do to protect your card? And what can you do if you lose it? We found some answers.
Treat your COVID-19 vaccine card like you treat your birth certificate or your passport. That’s the advice from FEMA’s Angela Byrd, who’s spent the last two months helping vaccinate 6,000 people a day at the Oakland Coliseum site.
"Keep it safe and tucked away," she said, before adding that you should also take a photo of it.
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She said the more copies you have of your card – digital or physical – the better.
"Take the opportunity to get it laminated," she said.
Over at Oakland’s Piedmont Copy & Printing shop, owner Fatima Yousuf said her shop has laminated up to 200 vaccination cards so far.
"Every day, like 5 to 10 customers daily, and they’re asking to get their card laminated," she said.
Her customers told her they want to be reassured the card is protected so they can take it when going on international trips or attending large events.
But Yousuf pointed out we still don’t know if we’ll need booster shots in the future and if that information will need to be added to our vaccine cards.
"I’m suggesting people just make a copy, laminate that, and save the original as it is," she said.
Staples, Office Depot and Office Max stores are offering to laminate people’s vaccine cards for free, until the end of July.
What happens if you lose your card? The CDC says there’s no national organization keeping track of every vaccine record. Your best bet is to call up the facility that gave you the vaccine or reach out to California’s Immunization Registry to see if they can help you find your vaccine records.
