Vaccination Replacement Cards Available
The Ministry of Health and Wellness has also begun to replace lost or damaged vaccination cards for people who have received their COVID vaccination. Those who show up to the vaccination points and request replacement vaccination cards will be given new ones, but are urged to take care of them.
Dr. Melissa Musa
Dr. Melissa Musa, Deputy Reg. Mgr., Central Health Region
“We do realize that damage can occur and people may lose their cards. When it comes to replacement cards, and this is for the Belize District only because each region will have a slightly different process of what they’re doing depending on how they are getting their data and what the vaccination sight uhm…what the process is in place there. But for us at this point, we have about two or three different checks that we will have to do in order to issue a card. And a recommendation – if I may say – take a picture of the card and have it on your phone. Many of us will have our devices with us at all times. If you have the picture on it, at least that is proof. We can verify the signature of the nurse; we can verify the lot number of the vaccine and it makes it easier for us to then go into our system. We have two electronic systems that we are looking at that we utilize. We have a form and we also have the BHIS (Belize Health Information System), so we go and we check these two systems, and a third system is in place where we are writing each name and the serial number for the cards to make sure that they match. There are many processes or layers of protection that we’re trying to put in place at this point in the Belize District to ensure (1) that falsified cards are not being distributed and to ensure that when we do give a replacement card, the replacement card is a genuine card and that that person has been vaccinated. You can say that these cards are similar to, for instance, your passport that you use to travel. We always put our passports in a secure place; we know that we may need in any emergency and we know the complications and the things that we have to go through to get a replacement – the complicated process that you’ve got to go through to get a replacement passport. So, it’s the same thing that we want to let the public know. These cards are very important for you to get access to many places. It’s also important to travel as well, like the passport is. So please take care of your card. Please ensure that you put it in a safe place and you know where to get your card afterwards.”
