These days, your vaccine card can be just as important as submitting the requirements or documents for that RFO house and lot you want. But how important is that piece of paper? Do you have to carry it everywhere you go? What happens if you lose it? Let’s find out.
The Uses of Your COVID 19 Vaccine Card
The Uses of Your COVID 19 Vaccine Card
Your vaccination card is one of the most useful health records that you should always have with you in this COVID climate. Especially with the rising number of daily cases in the Philippines, certain protocols will require all of us to have proof of vaccination before we can live as normally as we can. Here are some of the uses of your vax card (as of writing):
The card serves as proof of your vaccination against COVID
Any vaccine you have received in your lifetime should have some sort of documentation. This is the standard process so that you or your kids have a record on file that may be needed in case of hospitalization and other events. In some cases, schools require proof of immunization before a child can enroll to protect kids from diseases that spread easily in their age group.
Just like other vaccines, your COVID vaccination card is your documented proof. Although, sometimes an establishment will ask for a valid ID to prove that the vaccine card is yours.
The card contains important information about you and the vaccine you got
Vaccine cards generally include your basic personal information, including your name, date of birth, address, age, vaccine card number, and the vaccine you received. It also includes that specific shot of the brand you were given called the lot number, which is essential in tracking serious events that may happen to you with respect to the vaccine.
For example, if you had a severe side effect that is different from the usual ones, this may be associated with the specific lot number that you received.
Moreover, while the brand of vaccine you received isn’t necessarily important, your vaccine card shows you the brand and date of when you were vaccinated. This can be used as consideration when you want to get a booster shot. The LGU or organization where you want to get the booster needs this information because the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have some guidelines on what vaccines can be mixed for boosters and when you can take them.
The card serves as a reminder
Speaking of the date when you were vaccinated, if you have a two-dose shot, like Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and others, the card will serve as your reminder of when you’ll receive your next dose. Moreover, this can also tell you if you’re eligible for a booster shot since those are needed at a certain point after you received your second dose (or your first dose if you had Johnson & Johnson’s, Janssen.
The card can be used to gain access to events and travel
The card can be used to gain access to events and travel
Probably one of the most important — if not the most — use of your vaccine card is it gives you access to certain privileges that include going to establishments, events, and travel. Some countries even have vaccine requirements for college students.
If you haven’t been going out since the pandemic started, restaurants have been open for quite a while now. However, as cases rise, almost all of them now require a vaccine card before anyone can enter. The same goes for some malls and other establishments that are usually enclosed or air-conditioned. You can, although, still dine in if the restaurant offers al fresco dining.
As for travel, you might get away with roaming around the area of that RFO house and lot you’ve been dying to move into, but you can’t go anywhere else far, especially for cities or provinces under Alert Level 3.
Even before the rise of cases because of the Omicron variant, overseas travel has been reserved only for people with the vaccine. Other countries have their own specific rules, but most (if not all) of them require proof of vaccination before you can enter their borders.
Meanwhile, here in the Philippines, you can’t travel to tourist destinations like Baguio, La Union, or Cebu if you don’t have proof of vaccination or at least a recent negative RT-PCR test result. But really, you shouldn’t risk going on vacation to tourist spots if you haven’t been vaccinated.
In recent news, the Department of Transportation of the Philippines (DOTr) announced a “no vaccine, no ride” policy that was effective since last January 17, 2021, but was recently reinforced this January 2022.
You’re lucky if you don’t really commute anywhere, but this affects quite a lot of people, so you’d understand that there have been a lot of complaints from people who don’t have access to the vaccine. Some even questioned the policy’s legality, but according to DOTr, the policy is legally valid because they have the authority to issue the regulation. They also said that a citizen’s right to ride needs to be in balance with their responsibility as transportation regulators to maintain safe travel.
On the bright side, the DOTr did say that if NCR scales back down to Alert Level 2, the “no vaccine, no ride” policy will be lifted.
How to Take Care of Your Vaccination Card
How to Take Care of Your Vaccination Card
Now that you know how important your vaccine card is, the next thing you should know is how to take care of it. Here are some things you should do:
Skip lamination
There have been mixed comments about laminating your vaccination card. For the most part, a lot of people have already laminated their vaccination cards. It does kinda make sense since laminating can preserve paper and even printed pictures.
However, one downside of laminated paper is that the plastic used for it becomes adhesive because of the heat applied to it. This makes the paper difficult to remove if your protective laminate gets old and worn out. Not to mention, if not done correctly, removing paper inside the laminate can damage the information written on your vaccination card.
One good alternative for lamination is vaccination card holders that look like typical plastic ID holders. They are easily replaceable, and you can pick colors that you like. Unfortunately, the Philippines doesn’t have a unified size of vaccination cards. So, it may be difficult to find a holder if you have a larger vaccine card.
Have a backup copy
Just as you’d have backup copies of the documents for your RFO house and lot, you should also have one for your vaccine card.
Right now, there is no mandate that prevents you from printing scanned copies of your vaccination card. After all, most establishments just need to see if you’ve been vaccinated. Plus, having backup copies is perfect in case you lose the original copy of your card. This also makes even more sense if you have kids in the house, and they accidentally ruin a vaccination card or lose theirs.
https://www.crownasia.com.ph/news-and-blogs/lifestyle-blogs/selected/importance-of-the-vaccine-card