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Tips for reconstructing an adult's immunization history

Tips for reconstructing an adult's immunization history

1. Ask your parent or early care giver if he/she has any record of your childhood immunizations.

2. Look through any old papers saved from your childhood, such as a baby book.

3. Ask your high school, post-secondary school, college health service, or previous employers (including the military) for dates of any immunizations, if applicable.

4. Understand that it is often not possible to find childhood immunization records of an adult. When you can't document having received a required vaccine in the past, you may have to be re-vaccinated. Receiving extra doses of these vaccines will not harm you. For a few diseases and/or vaccines, you can have blood tests to see if you are immune.

5. Document any information you discover in writing, including the vaccine name, date given, and provider or clinic name. You can download an adult immunization record card from www.immunize.org.

For the future...
 
Finding old immunization records is hard, and for adults, often impossible.  To avoid having to hunt for old records and possibly repeating vaccinations that cannot be documented, make sure all immunization providers give you a written record of the vaccine(s) provided.  Remember to bring your child's or your immunization record card to all medical appointments (you might want to keep an infant's record in his or her diaper bag, protected by a vinyl sleeve or zip-lock bag).  If you maintain an up-to-date copy of your record, you'll be ready to document your immunization history whenever necessary!

Excerpted from "Tips for Finding Old Immunization Records" at http://www.vaccineinformation.org, sponsored by the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC)