What does a SMART Health Card look like?
A SMART Health Card has a 2D barcode (QR code) and may look something like this; see image below. Although the other information on your SMART Health Card may vary based on your individual records, most will have the SMART logo.
What can I do with a SMART Health Card?
You can keep your SMART Health Card as a record of your vaccination history and/or test results. You can also choose to share it with others (such as your doctor or a specialist your doctor refers you to or schools and other venues requiring immunization for admittance) if you want or need to show them this information.
How do I get a SMART Health Card for my COVID-19 vaccination or test result?
You can get a copy of your COVID-19 SMART Health Card, as well as other SMART Health Cards, through a qualified issuer. An issuer is any organization authorized by the Verifiable Clinical Information coalition (VCI) to generate these cards, including pharmacies, hospitals, healthcare providers, medical labs, public health agencies, and more. Use the "Find my Issuer" tool here or see a full list of issuers here. Here are some of the ways you may get a SMART Health Card from them:
- A paper copy may be handed to you by the organization at the time of your visit.
- A paper copy may be mailed to you by the organization after your visit.
- You may download it from a website or app hosted by the organization and print a copy and/or save it as a digital file.
How do I get a SMART Health Card if my state, pharmacy, or healthcare provider doesn't issue them?
If you're still having trouble getting a SMART Health Card for COVID-19 vaccination verification, please visit our Support page here to learn more about other options for securing a SMART Health Card.
How do I save my SMART Health Card to a digital wallet?
- You may connect your health records to an app that supports SMART Health Cards.
- iPhone users can add their Digital Vaccine Record to Apple Health and Apple Wallet by following instructions here.
- Android users who use Google Pay can add their Digital Vaccine Record to Google Pay by following instructions here.
- Samsung Pay users can add their Digital Vaccine Record to Samsung Pay by following instructions here.
- Watch this video to learn how to add SMART Health Cards to a digital wallet for quick and easy access when needed:
Is there a fee to use a SMART Health Card?
No. There should be no fee to get a SMART Health Card. If you decide to share your SMART Health Card with someone, there should be no fee for you or them.
How do I add my booster dose(s)?
SMART Health Cards do not change over time. Whenever you receive an additional vaccine or booster, you will need to request an updated COVID-19 vaccination record from the entity that provided your SMART Health Card. Note: It can sometimes take several weeks to get booster information from your vaccination location into your state's immunization registry. If you were recently vaccinated and don't see your booster appearing on your new SMART Health Card, you might need to try again after a few weeks. If you continue to have issues, you should contact the organization from which you received your vaccination or check with your state immunization registry. Here is a list of state immunization registries and here is a list of SMART Health Card issuers.
What do I do if my QR code is not generating or is unable to be verified?
You can check that your SMART Health Card is working properly with the free Verifier App from The Commons Project or the free Excelsior Pass Scanner app if your SMART Health Card was issued by New York state. Once you've downloaded the app to a mobile device, open your QR code on another device. If using the Verifier App from The Commons Project, select “Scan vaccination record” and hover that phone over the QR code as if you are taking a photo of it. Almost immediately, the app will tell you if the QR code is “Verified” or “Not Verified.” If it appears as “Not Verified,” you should contact the organization that issued your SMART Health Card.
How do I merge records if I was vaccinated at multiple locations or in different states/regions?
Here are a few methods you could try:
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MyChart: If you received your immunizations from multiple providers or in different states, you may still be able to have your immunization information loaded into a healthcare provider that is using the Epic MyChart system and is issuing SMART Health Cards. Epic has a listing of all of those providers here.
You should be able to work with a healthcare provider using Epic's MyChart to consolidate your records, and then download your SMART Health Card. Many times, SMART Health Cards issuers are actually pulling your records from the state immunization registry, so you may find that you don't have to do anything more than enroll in a participating provider's MyChart instance, and your immunization records will automatically show up.
If not — for example if you had vaccinations done in different states - you can still work with the provider to enter your info into their system to update your record.
Once you have an active MyChart account and you have logged into that account, follow the directions here. You can access MyChart through your provider's website or the MyChart mobile app. Here is a video from Epic for more information.
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Express Scripts: Depending on the relationship your pharmacy has with Express Scripts, you might also be able to access your SMART Health Card from the Express Scripts mobile app. You may need to call Express Scripts at 877-461-9199 to activate your account after downloading the mobile app.
Different organizations have different rules for verifying COVID-19 vaccinations or test results. For example, some states and countries may have different rules than others. SMART Health Cards are designed so they may be used by any organization that wants to use them, for COVID-19 as well as other healthcare credentialing. All organizations should provide options for users who don't have or prefer not to use SMART Health Cards.
I don't wish to use a SMART Health Card. How do I opt out?
Even if you get a SMART Health Card, you do not need to share it with anyone. Choosing to share your information is always in your control and the SMART Health Card should never be your only option when asked to show your vaccination history or test results.
Can I delete or destroy my SMART Health Card?
You can destroy a paper SMART Health Card and/or delete a digital SMART Health Card at any time. If you change your mind, you may be able to get a copy from the organization that provided your vaccination or test.
What if the information on my SMART Health Card is wrong?
You should contact the organization that performed your vaccination or test. They are responsible for the accuracy of your records and these records are the source of the information on your SMART Health Card.
The SMART Health Cards solution does not have the ability to access or update your records, only your healthcare provider or state immunization registry can do that. Each state manages their own registry of vaccinations administered in their jurisdiction. To get your immunization records corrected, you'll need to contact the vaccination provider from where you received your SMART Health Card or your state immunization registry. You can find a list of state immunization registry contact information here.
Can I present my child's/parent's SMART Health Card on their behalf?
Yes, as long as you have permission to do so. Sharing a SMART Health Card is similar to sharing other medical records in this way.
I have travel questions related to SMART Health Cards
Travel requirements vary across countries and are constantly evolving. Some countries accept SMART Health Cards as verifiable vaccination certificates, while others do not yet. Below is information about some countries for which we receive frequent questions. REMEMBER: For the most up-to-date information, please refer to official guidance from the destination(s) to which you are traveling, including government-endorsed travel websites and embassies, as well as entities involved in your travel such as airlines, cruise ships, tour guides, hotels, or other accommodations.
- Travel to and from the United States: visit the CDC's guidelines here.
- Travel to the EU: Please visit the Re-Open EU website to input your origin country and your destination country and review the requirements specific to each country.
- Travel to Singapore: Here is a Checklist for Fully Vaccinated Travelers from the Government of Singapore's website. For clarification or additional questions about entry requirements, contact the Singapore SafeTravel Office through the inquiry form on its website or call Singapore's SafeTravel Enquiry Helpline at +65 6812 5555
- Travel to, from, and within Canada: For all questions related to travel to, from, or within Canada, please visit the Government of Canada's website here.
How do SMART Health Cards protect my privacy?
Your vaccination history and/or test results are stored directly within the SMART Health Card as a 2D barcode (QR code) or file that you control. Sharing your card is completely up to you.
What happens to my information after I share it?
Sharing your SMART Health Card information is just like sharing a paper copy of immunization records with a school, faxing medical records to a physician's office, or using your credit card at a restaurant. You should only share your SMART Health Card information with trusted organizations that tell you what they intend to do with your data and/or if they will keep it. If you are not comfortable with the organization seeing the information in your SMART Health Card, you should not share it.
What if I lose my SMART Health Card?
Just like a normal file, you can save back-ups of your digital SMART Health Card. You may also make copies of a paper SMART Health Card. You may be able to receive a new SMART Health Card from the organization that has your records.
Can someone steal my SMART Health Card?
Your SMART Health Card can be presented by anyone holding it. However, SMART Health Cards are verified with another form identification, such as a student account in a school system or a driver's license.
Why would I want a SMART Health Card?
SMART Health Cards are a way to store your vaccination history and/or test results for your personal records and can help you easily share your status to an organization that asks for it.
SMART Health Cards empower individuals with secure, equitable, and privacy-preserving access to their clinical information.
How are SMART Health Cards different from other digital health cards?
SMART Health Cards are built on top of the SMART Health Cards Framework. The Framework is openly licensed and and available for anyone to use. It is not associated with any single organization, corporation, or government entity; and it was created to provide people simple, secure, and privacy-preserving access to their health records.
Will I be able to use my SMART Health Card to store and share other clinical information?
In the future, you may be able to use your SMART Health Card to share and store other health information.
How can my organization become a SMART Health Card issuer?
SMART Health Cards are open source and available to anyone who wants to utilize these standards. Free tutorials and getting-started guidance to help you build solutions that utilize the SMART Health Cards Framework can be found at https://docs.smarthealthit.org/ and https://spec.smarthealth.cards/. Additionally, visit VCI.org to learn more about joining VCI, a free and collaborative coalition of public and private organizations interested in empowering individuals with digital access to their verifiable clinical information (including vaccination records).
Anyone who is interested in developing apps for verifying clinical results can utilize SMART Health Cards, which are open source and available to anyone. Free tutorials and getting-started guidance to help you build solutions that utilize the SMART Health Cards Framework can be found at https://docs.smarthealthit.org/ and https://spec.smarthealth.cards/. Additionally, visit VCI.org to learn more about joining VCI, a free and collaborative coalition of public and private organizations interested in empowering individuals with digital access to their verifiable clinical information (including vaccination records).
Can any organization use SMART Health Cards to verify clinical results?
Yes. SMART Health Cards are an open-source standard and are based on the SMART Health Card Framework. Anyone can use the SMART Health Card Framework to build solutions that verify clinical results, and organizations all over the world have already adopted these standards for that reason as well as for numerous other use cases. For instance, with iOS 15, Apple is using the SMART Health Cards Framework to allow users to download and store verifiable COVID-19 test results or vaccination records in the Health app, Walmart has announced the creation of a digital wallet for its customers to track their health information built on SMART, and in less than one year, more than 20 states and U.S. territories have launched SMART Health Cards systems by offering residents a digital record of their COVID-19 vaccination status.
What's more, the SMART on FHIR API is being used throughout the healthcare community to enable interoperability, including the National Institutes of Health prioritizing SMART on FHIR for use in its research programs, Microsoft using SMART on FHIR in its Azure health product, and numerous EHR vendors, like Epic, Cerner, and Allscripts, integrating the SMART on FHIR API into their products as well.
Substitutable Medical Applications, Reusable Technologies. Learn more about it at SMARTHealthIT.org.
An issuer is the organization that generates a SMART Health Card. Issuers are able to provide digital or paper copies of clinical information, such as vaccination or testing information, to individuals. An issuer is any organization authorized to generate these cards, including pharmacies, hospitals, healthcare providers, medical labs, public health agencies, and more.
VCI reviews and approves potential issuers to make sure they are trustworthy and capable of issuing SMART Health Cards in a reliable and secure way. Then, they approve them to be included in the VCI Directory as authorized issuers. You can learn more about the VCI Directory issuer types here.
What are the VCI Directory and the CommonTrust Network?
When businesses require proof of vaccination, they need to know that the proof of vaccination they're seeing comes from a trustworthy source and is legitimate. The VCI Directory and the CommonTrust Network were developed to create this trust. These directories vet and approve potential issuers. Then, they openly publish the list of organizations that meet VCI's standards. This ensures that only SMART Health Cards issued by reliable sources get approved when proof of vaccination is taking place, which means verifiers can have confidence in the reliability of a person's vaccination status when they're scanning a SMART Health Card.
Data aggregators and other health IT vendors play a critical role in immunization record keeping and vaccination verification. They facilitate the flow of clinical information by tackling interoperability challenges and by supporting networks and applications that give the public access to their health records. The work done by these leading healthcare technology companies is vital to helping healthcare providers and public health organizations serve their customers.
VCI stands for Verifiable Clinical Information. VCI is a voluntary coalition of public and private organizations committed to empowering individuals with access to a trustworthy and verifiable copy of their vaccination records and other clinical information in digital or paper form using open, interoperable standards.
To achieve its purpose, the founding members of VCI collaborated to develop The SMART Health Cards Framework Implementation Guide and The SMART Health Cards Vaccination and Testing Implementation Guide.
You can learn more about VCI here.
How do IIS registries work in the United States?
Immunization information systems (IIS), also known as immunization registries, can be found in all 50 United States. An IIS is a computerized public health system that includes information on all the vaccines the residents in that area have been given—helping providers and families by consolidating immunization information into one reliable source.
More than twenty states have already embraced SMART Health Cards by becoming issuers, giving their residents an easy way to access their own, personal immunization information that's already in their state's IIS. And more than 200 million people in the United States across all 50 states have access to SMART Health Cards through nationwide pharmacies, hospitals, clinicians, laboratories, and other healthcare providers.
Learn more about immunization information systems here.
