Replacing your COVID-19 vaccination card

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - With over 4.6 million Michiganders having at least received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, there’s a good chance a portion of those have already lost their vaccination card.

Linda Clark of Jackson County misplaced hers and has been trying to get a replacement. After a lot of web searching and numerous unanswered voicemails to the Health Department, she came to WILX for help.

“It shouldn’t be that complicated. I know the dates I got it, I know where I got it,” said Clark. “It just seems like you ought to be able to fill out a form and get a card.”

So, how does a person get a replacement card if they happen to lose it? Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail says anybody distributing the vaccine in Michigan should be able to give you a new one regardless of location or county.

“Anybody who has access to MCIR, Michigan Care Improvement Registry, can look up and can verify that you indeed got the vaccine and can replace your card,” said Vail.

“I’ve heard excuses like, ‘There’s only the same number of cards as there are vaccines. So, we don’t have any extra.’” said Clark.

According to Vail that’s true. However, with Pfizer and Moderna requiring two doses, that should technically provide two cards per person.

“To some extent it is true that the kit comes with the cards. But, we’ve also gotten more cards. So, that’s not an unreasonable thing to do is get additional cards,” said Vail.

One of the many ideas that Vail had was to take a picture of your card.

“First of all we don’t want lots of people just losing cards” Vail said. “It’s not that hard but please keep your card. Also, take a photograph from your phone. Just have a picture on your phone of your card. That’s an easy way to make sure you still have that record.”

Places like Office Depot and Staples are offering free lamination for vaccination cards. Vail said it’s not a bad idea to keep it in good shape.

“If the airline, for example, says they want to see your proof of vaccination they can do that. So, you might find businesses might do that. Travel companies might do that and those sorts of things,” she said.

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