Have you seen your vaccination records lately?

Measles cases are on the rise throughout the country. Public health staff interview every person who tests positive for measles and follow up with people who may have been exposed. This helps us stop the spread of the virus. During past measles investigations, we’ve learned many adults have trouble locating their immunization records, which can create problems.

Measles and Quarantining

If there is a measles exposure at a site—like your work, school, or a community location—anyone who was there and cannot provide documentation of their MMR vaccination or proof of immunity will need to quarantine.

Because measles is so infectious, people who are exposed and unprotected must quarantine, which means staying home and not going to work, school, or any public places. Unprotected means you were born after 1957 and are unvaccinated or have no laboratory evidence of having had measles.

This quarantine will last 14 total days, starting at day 7 after exposure and going through day 21. If you are exposed and unprotected, this will cause significant disruption to your life. You’ll miss work for two weeks. You won’t be able to go out and get groceries. You won’t be able to drop your child off at child care.

Find your vaccination records now to avoid headaches later.

We’re fortunate in Wisconsin to have the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR). This system maintains the records for millions of people vaccinated in Wisconsin and was established in 2000. However, if you were vaccinated before 2000 or at a small clinic or office, those records may not have made their way into WIR. (Tip: You can bring your paper record to your doctor’s office or one of our Public Health offices and it can be added into WIR.)

If you were vaccinated in another state or country, your records also may not be in WIR, and they may be harder to access. For example, in Missouri, the way to access your childhood record is to send a paper form via fax.

If you are exposed and know you were vaccinated but cannot prove it with a record, you’ll still have to quarantine. Tracking down your record or getting a blood test to prove you were vaccinated could take several days, during which time you’ll be stuck at home.

If you’re a person who was vaccinated but don’t have eyes on your record, here are a few places to get started:

• See if the state where you were vaccinated has an online immunization registry. CDC has a list of other state’s immunization information systems.
• Reach out to the health department in the jurisdiction where you may have been vaccinated.
• Check with your previous health care providers.
• Ask your parents. We’ve heard of records found in baby books, photo albums, and storage tubs.
• Ask your schools or previous employers. We’ve heard of schools retaining some of these records for decades!

Can’t find your record? You can request serology from your doctor. This is a blood test to see if you have antibodies for a particular virus, like measles.

If you never got your MMR vaccine, it’s not too late to get up to date!

The best protection against measles is measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The MMR vaccine is much safer than getting the disease and provides long-lasting protection against all strains of measles. People who are vaccinated (and can provide documentation of their vaccinations to Public Health) will not have to quarantine if they are exposed. Reach out to your doctor, an area pharmacy, or Public Health to get caught up on your vaccines.