Lost vax card? Online portal designed to help Delawareans access vaccine records

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Proving you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 is becoming more important. Some employers are requiring workers to get vaccinated before returning to the office. Delaware state employees are required to get the vaccine by September 30 or submit to regular testing. Some restaurants in our region are also requiring customers to prove their vaccinated status.

But what happens if you’ve lost the COVID-19 card you received when getting your shots at the doctor or pharmacy?

While the state has maintained a database of vaccinations for the past 25 years, being able to easily access that information has become more important than ever. Residents can now use the new DelVAX Public Access Portal to print official immunization records for themselves or their children.

“We have a law here in the state that any immunization given has to be reported to public health and it goes into this system,” said Jim Talbot, director of the Division of Public Health’s immunization program. “Really all records for any individual, especially younger kids and adults from, let’s say from the last twenty five years, all their immunizations should be in there.”

While DelVAX won’t recreate the vaccination card, it will help residents prove their vaccination status.

“Multiple times a day we get calls about people who are losing their COVID card,” he said. “What we can do is provide them a record out of the immunization system that is an official state document.”

He’s hoping the site will be able to reproduce that official vax card soon.

DPH has wanted to roll out the portal for several years, but there was a lack of funding to get it done. Health officials also worried that people wouldn’t use it. But with COVID-19 and vaccination requirements at lots of different locations, it was the perfect time to launch.

“We weren’t really sure that we would have a lot of business on the portal. So, when COVID came around, we thought this would be a good idea and the funding was available, so we got it all set up,” Talbot said.

Doctors and pharmacies report the vaccination info into a secure state database electronically. For the thousands vaccinated at mass vaccination sites hosted by FEMA at Dover International Speedway for instance, that information was input by hand.

It’s a simple procedure to look up your record online: just input your name, date of birth, and a few other details. If for some reason your records are not listed as they should be, there’s an online form to fill out to make sure the database has the right information.

Nearly 503,000 Delawareans, or 58.7% of the total state population, have been fully vaccinated, according to the state. That includes 62.7% of all adults and nearly 90% of all residents over 65.

Delaware’s coronavirus case numbers have been steadily rising in recent weeks. As of Monday, the state was averaging 414 cases per day, the highest it’s been since the beginning of February 2021.

The vaccine appears to be helping keep the state’s fatality rate low. In early February, Delaware averaged nine COVID-19 deaths per day on a seven-day average. As of Monday, the daily death average is at 0.6 per day.

There are currently 250 patients being treated in Delaware hospitals for the virus. The last time hospitalizations were that high was mid-February. The number of new patients being admitted to hospitals for COVID treatment is trending slightly down.