DENVER (KDVR) — If you lose or destroy your COVID-19 vaccine card, you are not necessarily out of luck if you need it to prove your vaccination status.
More and more bars, restaurants and event spaces are beginning to require patrons to be vaccinated and will be asking to see proof in the form of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card or a digital vaccine record.
However, those paper cards are delicate and easily lost.
“If someone has lost or ruined their vaccination card, we currently have a few options,” said Denver Department of Public Health and Environment emergency management coordinator Cali Zimmerman.
How to replace your COVID-19 paper card
To obtain a new paper copy, she suggests contacting the pharmacy where you were vaccinated.
“The only way to get one of those on the same CDC card is to go back to the place you got it and ask if they’ll reissue,” she said. “Now that folks are needing proof of vaccine for travel, these cards now are on a little bit more of a lockdown.”
CVS and Walgreens have said that customers who were vaccinated in their stores can ask for a new CDC card at the pharmacy counter. They will issue a new one after verifying a person’s vaccination status within their systems.
How to get a digital copy of your COVID-19 vaccine card
Going forward, digital copies of vaccines are likely to become more common and could replace the need for a paper card altogether.
“Right now, the best option is for folks to go and use myColorado, the app. This is a great new addition to this app where it actually has a landing page for your vaccine record for COVID-19,” Zimmerman said.
The free app requires a current Colorado driver’s license to sign in. It then requires an additional step of facial recognition in order to access the pre-filled digital vaccination card, which is made to look nearly identical to the paper version.
Vaccine records are available within minutes though the app. Users can access it anytime through the app or download a copy to keep locally on the device.
“It really wants to make sure you are the person you say you are before it gives you access to your vaccine record, but it’s great. I have it on my phone. I just click on the app and now I have my vaccine record, and it’s there for me any time I need it,” Zimmerman said.
For those who do not have a smart device, digital records are also available for free online through the Colorado Immunization Information System. It takes minutes to access your vaccine record.
“This is the portal that actually stores all of the vaccine records for the state,” Zimmerman said. “It is a way that you can go in and screenshot or print out your vaccination record.”
The website requires basic identifying information, as well as a two-factor authentication system to keep your information secure.
Who to call if you’re having trouble getting your COVID-19 vaccine record
However, both CIIS and myColorado have their drawbacks.
“If anything was typed in incorrectly either on your end or in looking for it or when it got entered in, it’s very possible that it’s not going to come up for you,” Zimmerman said.
In that case, Coloradans should call the CIIS help desk at 303-692-2437 or 1-877-CO VAX CO (1-877-268-2926). It could take much longer to access your vaccine records if they are not immediately available on CIIS.
Zimmerman recommends obtaining copies of your vaccination record in both digital and paper formats sooner rather than later so you have backups ready to go in case you need them.
“Everybody is trying to do their best. Everyone is navigating a brand new system, so just kind of go into it with a little bit of patience and understanding,” she said.