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I'm a US resident and got my main Covid vaccinations in the US recorded on the US CDC card. I also got one booster shot abroad and would like to have it added to my US CDC card to have all my shots documented in one place. I talked to various Health Care providers (primary care, vaccination provider, etc) but they all just stare blankly and don't know what to do.

Questions:

  1. Would it be legal for me to transcribe the booster shot myself? It's not faking anything since the vaccination did actually happen (and I have a record for it).
  2. If it's illegal, who can do this legally and how can I get them to actually engage?
  3. Is there a different way to (legally) combine Covid vaccination records from different countries into a single record ?

Update: The point of having a single record would be to a) have it all in English, and b) optimized for international travel. Many airlines allow uploading vaccination documentation but typically there is only one upload allowed.

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  • If they must be a single upload you can scan them into a single PDF. It can't be unusual among frequent travellers to have vaccinations in different regions.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 17:13
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    This was rejected already in two cases. Airlines often use automated systems that apparently can't handle that well
    – Hilmar
    Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 19:34
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    Is there any risk to getting another booster? This would also solve the paperwork problem.
    – Mast
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 7:39
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    Ask your Health Care providers where you could get a replacement card if you had lost yours. (Usually a dept of the state Health administration) The people who issue replacement cards would be much more likely to be able to assist you.
    – Dragonel
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 8:31

3 Answers 3

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The vaccine card doesn't have a specific legal status under US law. There are federal laws against fraud which would encompass vaccine card fraud, but tidying up disparate notices into a single notice is not fraudulent (there is no attempt to deceive), as long as you don't falsify signatures, seals, or specific information.

From a practical perspective, though, the official vaccination record from your state is a better and more official way to have a single proof of vaccination. There is probably no practical way to transport vaccinations from a foreign country into the US system, but that is a question best asked on Travel, since it's not about the law, it's about quasi-legal mandates authorized under broad laws that say "in an emergency, the government can stipulate necessary rules".

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  • :-P Up until recently, there was no "quasi" about the legal mandates, but given we have at least one judge who's ruled otherwise, I suppose it's not in limbo until a higher court rules on it. That "and other measures" bit of the law being cited is the tricky bit.
    – SCD
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 12:04
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There's no possible way anyone can verify the information on the hand written CDC card. Literally anyone could make up anything and use the card to show proof. The only possibility of anyone knowing it was transcribed by you is if you tell them.

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    Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 3:31
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    @DavidSiegel You probably left this comment after going through the first-post review queue, but please note there's an older answer by a veteran which has no citations or documentation either. I can understand quite well why the new users thinks this to be an acceptable answer.
    – Mast
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 7:51
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    This is not an answer: it doesn't say whether what the OP wants to do is legal and how to do it in a legal way.
    – Dmitry Grigoryev
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 9:48
  • @Mast This is one of the standard comments left in fist-answer review. (First post was split into first answer and first question.) Showing sources is always good practice for an answer here. The first-ans review dos not present other answers that may exist or offer a chance to comment on them. Beyond that, some answers need sources more than others. That some people fail to provide sources when they should is not a good reason for a new user to learn a sub-optimal style.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 14:31
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    "There's no possible way anyone can verify the information on the hand written CDC card." This is in fact incorrect, although most people won't bother to verify the information. Since the cad indicates the site where the vaccine was given, one can ask that site to check its own records and see if they match the info on the card, and may check if the signature matches that of a person working on the date listed. It would be unusual to go to this amount of trouble to verify such a card, but possible in theory
    – David Siegel
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 14:34
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Creating a fraudulent card in the US is illegal. This doesn't apply to your question but it is one I have investigated. The provider did not fill in a history on my wife's second shot. The provider, our primary care doctor, and the local health authorities have no idea how to fill in the line on the paper document but they are united on saying we can't fill in the date ourselves. Location is Maryland and the shot was given by a Johns Hopkins provider.

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    PSA: If the Hopkins provider entered it into the state system properly, and if she also got the first done in Maryland, she can get an all in one place record by registering here: myirmobile.com/register Then if she gets/ got a booster that will be there also.
    – Damila
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 1:44
  • @Damila We have the electronic records but some places want to see the paper card.
    – doneal24
    Commented Apr 20, 2022 at 12:31

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