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At this point, the CDC reports that over 128 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, and more than 13% of the population in the United States have been fully vaccinated. Regardless of whether you’ve already received it, will receive it soon, or are still uncertain if you will, knowing the value vaccination cards might have in the future is becoming increasingly important.
“A vaccination card is a tool that people can use to declare that they have some level of protection against COVID,” ABC News contributor John Brownstein, Ph.D. explained in a recent Good Morning America report. Emphasizing their importance as the world continues its efforts to combat the virus, the epidemiologist additionally said, “Being able to assess immunity to COVID is a critical part of trying to resume our daily lives.”
“Whether it’s school, entertainment venues, or travel,” Brownstein added, “there’s going to be an expectation that to resume these activities you have to be retested and enter quarantine or produce proof of immunization.” Additionally mentioning that a vaccination card could be a person’s “ticket back to normalcy,” Brownstein isn’t the only expert who emphasized the importance of the cards moving forward.
Particularly when it comes to travel, “vaccine passports” will potentially give people the security that they and other fellow travelers aren’t spreading the virus. While infectious disease specialist and scholar Amesh Adalja, M.D. noted “nothing has been put into place yet” regarding the passports, she did tell ABC News that vaccination cards will be crucial for travel moving forward because it’ll make it less likely for people to have to quarantine once they reach their destinations.
“What these little cards have the potential to do is to make something like international travel easier by avoiding requirements for quarantine or testing,” she told the outlet.
For some, getting the vaccine is still a topic up for consideration — while for others, it’s just a matter of time. If you do end up getting vaccinated, doing things like taking a digital photo of your vaccination card and keeping it stored along with other personal documents and/or belongings are two of the best ways to make sure that your record of vaccination (and the perks that’ll come with it) isn’t lost.
