# Childhood vaccination records
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 28, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679 "2021-08-28T16:47:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/1 "2021-08-28T16:47:44Z")
As a child I received all of the required vaccinations: Smallpox, measles, mumps, and who-knows-what else. I know I got the shots, but I have no record of them. Are vaccination records from half a century ago available anywhere? (FWIW, I went to school in San Diego.)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/2 "2021-08-28T18:03:11Z")
[immunize.org](http://immunize.org) has tips on finding old vaccination records.
> **[p3065.pdf](https://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p3065.pdf)**
>
> 154.46 KB
If finding out is related to a concern about infectious disease susceptibility, it’s generally considered a reasonable idea to get revaccinated, with the MMR and probably Tdap (check with your doctor).
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### Author:  [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/3 "2021-08-28T18:10:56Z")
Almost certainly not. I’m younger and I can’t get my records.
I wanted a hepatitis shot to travel a few years ago. The doctor did an antibody test and found out I’m immune already (which would make sense given a childhood vaccination).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/4 "2021-08-28T18:47:07Z")
I’m up-to-date on MMR and Tdap. But I have no record of polio, smallpox, etc. vaccines. I don’t need those records, but it would be nice to know.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/5 "2021-08-29T01:57:42Z")
I was a military dependent, with all my immunizations administered by the US military medical system. They were fanatical about record-keeping, and made sure every little poke I got was logged in a little yellow World Health Organization immunization record book. Which I still have in a strongbox someplace, for all the good a 50-year-old immunization event does.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/6 "2021-08-29T01:59:56Z")
I was a CHAMPUS kid too. But I don’t have a record book.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/7 "2021-08-29T02:14:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> But I don’t have a record book.
Well, it probably helped that my dad was fanatical about record-keeping, as he was in a record-keeping kind of career field (personnel). So I have a shot record book, and he made me take it with me when I left the house, and it got augmented by my own WMO yellow immunization record book from my own military career, and now it’s in the military health electronic record system.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/8 "2021-08-29T02:23:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I’m up-to-date on MMR and Tdap. But I have no record of polio, smallpox, etc. vaccines. I don’t need those records, but it would be nice to know.
If you were vaccinated for smallpox you probably still have a visible scar.
I was vaccinated for polio as a child, but before visiting southern Africa, i was advised to be vaccinated again, as immunity can fade over time. So if that one is important to you, you can redo it.
I’ve been tested for antibodies to rubella (to get married) and to measles (because it was going around, and there were some irregularities about my immunization history, related to having had a bad reaction to it) and i remember having both mumps and whooping cough. But whooping cough is another one you need to re-up if it becomes important.
So …i guess I’m saying that records from long ago may not be all that valuable, as many need to be redone anyway if it really matters, and others can be tested for.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/9 "2021-08-29T02:25:49Z")
The BCG vaccine also has a visible, lifelong scar.
Wherever you went to elementary school should have that as part of your records. You’d probably need to request a copy that’s on microfilm; I did a few years ago when I applied for a job that wanted transcripts.
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### Author:  [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/10 "2021-08-29T04:14:35Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> But whooping cough is another one you need to re-up if it becomes important.
DTaP is whooping cough, also called pertussis, the ‘p’ in Tdap, which he said he is current on. Adults should get a DTaP booster every10 years if they haven’t needed one before then for a wound or other injury.
More happily, grandparents are suggested to get fresh Tdap before a new grand child arrives, to be extra protective of newborns, pertussis can kill newborns. I’m very lucky, I’ve needed two DTaPs in four years. My grandson got his first 6 vaccines yesterday (at 2 months) and he has been pertussis-free, so my work is done 🙃.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/11 "2021-08-29T04:30:45Z")
Congrats on the grandchildren. 😃
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/12 "2021-08-29T04:57:40Z")
My smallpox scar was on the top of my thigh. it was visible until I was around 30. It’s undetectable now. My sister’s was administered on the bottom of her foot so it wouldn’t leave a scar.
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/13 "2021-08-29T05:45:02Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> made sure every little poke I got was logged in a little yellow World Health Organization immunization record book
Mine only shows ? Yellow fever ? and was lost years ago. That only because it was required for some international travel.
Of course, my smallpox vaccination was recorded on my arm.
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### Author:  [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/14 "2021-08-29T07:15:45Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> If you were vaccinated for smallpox you probably still have a visible scar.
My husband’s is barely visible now, and he’s over 50. He’s only 2 years older than me, but I never got the smallpox vaccination since the U.S. stopped doing it routinely in 1972 and it was mostly done on children at 1 year of age.
I have the vaccination records for both husband and me. It seems rather unofficial, compared to the yellow card for vaccinations or the QR code I got for my COVID vaccination.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/15 "2021-08-29T07:38:19Z")
I told this story recently, but it fits here too:
My idiot parents didn’t keep medical records for me, or if they did, they never passed them on to me. I had the smallpox vax, among others, with the attendant distinctive scar. (You young’uns don’t know about that.) When I graduated high school (Class of 1969!) and went to college, they required a smallpox vax. I had no records, and the visible scar on my arm didn’t count. (You think they’re allowed to believe their lying eyes?) I had to get a new smallpox vax.
Now, 50 years later, neither scar is visible any more.
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### Author:  [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/16 "2021-08-29T07:46:01Z")
One belonging of mine which has miraculously survived since my childhood is a sort of vaccine card which lists all the different vaccines I received during the first 10 or so years of my childhood. It’s pretty well-worn but all of them are marked and stamped or signed by the doctors that administered them. It proved handy when vaccination records were required from time to time.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2021, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/17 "2021-08-29T10:56:10Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#):
>
> I have the vaccination records for both husband and me. It seems rather unofficial, compared to the yellow card for vaccinations or the QR code I got for my COVID vaccination.
I don’t think i have my childhood vaccination record, but i recall it as looking rather official, compared to the piece of tagboard i got with my covid vaccine. It was a heavy thing, and the person administering vaccine signed it. My covid card just has the date and dose scribbled onto it. I think this represents that in my childhood, that card was meant to be the source of info, whereas now the state vaccination registry is the actual “official record”.
(My mom’s covid documentation was just an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with the info printed on it. It also had the rest of her vaccines, according to the state registry. It was missing several.)
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/18 "2021-08-30T02:52:03Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> World Health Organization immunization record book.
For clarity, the childhood vaccination record book I’m talking about looks like this:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzrW-LqXIAMLRTR?format=jpg&name=large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzrW-LqXIAMLRTR?format=jpg&name=large)
My adulthood version is the same thing, basically, but more “modern”:
[ ](https://bookstore.gpo.gov/sites/default/files/styles/product_page_image/public/covers/017-001-00566-5_0.jpg?itok=ZdDAWCJd)
My kids had their shots recorded in this type of book as well.
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/19 "2021-08-30T03:08:42Z")
Although the WHO dates from 1948 (before I was born), I don’t remember that my vaccination certificate specifically said “WHO” or “Word Health Organisation”. Maybe it had “Organisation Mondiale de la Santé [OMS]” – but the yellow card dates back even farther.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-vaccination-records/949679/20 "2021-08-30T11:26:59Z")
When I went to my University dorms, they asked me for my Vax status. I filled out a form of all the shots I had taken and submitted it and that was enough. No other proof required. I asked my mother about the shots and if she said I had taken them, I checked the box.
Interestingly 5 years later, my BIL went to the same dorm (I didn’t know him then) and for MMR and once other vaccine, he had to either show proof or get the shot again. Which he did.
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