Where would I even GET my shot records?

[darien]

This really is a working and student parent question, I swear.

I'm applying to grad school, and they want a copy of my vaccination records. Maybe I'm daft, but I have no idea where to get one.

I haven't had any shots, or had a personal physician, since I was in college. My pediatrician retired years ago-- I'm forty years old!

Anyone BTDT? What should I do?

[cristeen]

As I see it, you have a couple options. You can opt out/sign a waiver, you can get a whole new round of shots, or you can have your titers tested. Personally I'd probably just sign a waiver, it's by far the easiest and cheapest.

So far as I know, there's no central repository of vax info for our generations, so if you don't have it, you probably can't get it.

[FtMPapa]

Darien - I ran into that, too. I came from Canada to grad school in the US, my pediatrician is dead, I've changed my name since then, I odn't have my records, and vaccinations and protocols vary from the US to Canada, so even though I've been vaxxed on the Canadian schedule, it's not the same thing, and I couldn't prove it.

I wrote a note saying "It is against my sincerely held beliefs to be vaccinated..." and signed it.

That was in Mass, no problem. Easy peasy.

I hope they don't give you a hard time about it.

[zersha]

I had this same problem. I was able to contact a college I attended a LONG time ago, and they still had a copy. First one person told me they couldn't release a copy to me (?? they are my records after all), then I called back and the 2nd person told me it was no problem.

What immunizations does your school require? I think mine only really cared about 1, and I would probably have done the titre if it came down to it. I really wouldn't want another vax.

[rivkah]

I had the same issue when I went to Law School--I was 29. You would never believe it, but I called my high school, and they had the records. I received them within 3 days. I had to get another MMR, which costs next to nothing at the student health center.

Since I would be living in a college town for three years, I was more than happy to make sure I was fully vaccinated. Talk about a petri dish of infection! (Obviously, I am not a person who actually has any objections to vaccinations.)

[bvnms]

I had to get a copy of mine a few years ago and you might try the school board where you went to school at. They had a copy of mine.

[rhiandmoi]

Originally Posted by rivkah

I had the same issue when I went to Law School--I was 29. You would never believe it, but I called my high school, and they had the records. I received them within 3 days.

This is what I was going to suggest. Any place that would have had them on file might still have them in some archive somewhere.

[lolar2]

I think DH had a titer test. My parents, miraculously, had mine on file.

[ProtoLawyer]

My mom actually kept detailed records, but my partner called the junior college he attended for one semester in 1993 for his.

I had to get a tetanus booster, which was fine. I have no moral or scientific issue with vaccination anyway.

[darien]

Thanks, everyone! Now I've got some phone calls to make!

[klt]

Ditto, I was going to say you can get a blood titre to see what antibodies you still have to prove your immunity. Just in case you can't get records from the hospital you went to as a kid b4 college (that's where i went to get my records and they had them 20 years later.) I think that's why I had to do a blood titre for Nursing school, because I didn't have boosters and because I am an old lady, I may not have had immunity any longer. (But I did !)

[Phantaja]

My city's department of health holds on to them forever. They're free.