Governor Ned Lamont announced on December 20 that the State of Connecticut is now providing residents with the ability to store their COVID-19 vaccination records on their smartphone devices. The digital vaccination cards mirror the paper cards from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that patients receive upon being vaccinated and provide them with a convenient option to securely show proof of being vaccinated on their smartphones without physically carrying the paper cards on their person. 

The governor stressed that loading digital vaccination cards onto smartphones is strictly optional. Those who do not have smartphones or do not want to digitize their vaccination records can continue using the paper cards they received upon being vaccinated, as they have been doing over the last year. 

The system uses CT WiZ, Connecticut's immunization information system, to confirm a person's vaccination status. 

The SMART Health Cards display a QR code that, upon being scanned, will confirm the smartphone user's vaccination status. The governor explained that digital cards are more resistant to forgery than paper cards. They can also be easily obtained in the unfortunate event that someone loses their paper card and needs to replace it. 

The QR code is based ona standardthat has already been adopted bymany states and countries, including New York, California, and Canada, meaning that Smart Health Cards issued by the Connecticut Department of Public Health will also verify vaccination status in those locations. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and numerous additional states are expected to launch programs soon using this standard. 

"This digital vaccination card does one thing – it provides Connecticut residents with an alternative option to the paper card that they received when they were vaccinated,"Governor Lamont said. "If you don't want to carry your paper card around with you in your pocket, or if you lost your card, then you can digitally load it onto your smartphone. If you don't have a smartphone or don't want to digitize your paper card, then you don't have to, and you can keep using the paper card you were given when you were vaccinated. This option is just about more convenience for Connecticut residents." 

Step-by-step instructions to digitalize your CT vaccination card: 

1. Go toCT WiZ Public Portal(you must be using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox). 

1. Enter your name or your child's name, date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY), and gender. 

1. Select your relationship to the patient whose record you are accessing.Note: Parents cannot search and access their adult (18+) child's record. 

1. Indicate how you would like to receive a code to access the immunization record (either via mobile phone or email), then enter thephone number or email you or the patient used when registering for the vaccination. 

1. Click "Search" to locate the record. Note: A search result will only appear if there is anexact matchin CT WiZ of the name, date of birth, and cell phone or email used at registration for the vaccine. 

1. To view, save, or print your full immunization record, click the"Download Full Record"button on the top right corner of the screen. 

1. To view, save, or print your COVID-19 record and QR code, click "Download COVID-19 Record". 

1. Note: If you are downloading your COVID-19 record on a mobile phone, the record with your QR code will appear in a new browser tab. If you are downloading your COVID-19 record on a desktop, the record with your QR code will appear as a PDF file. 

• Some Internet browser configurations may cause PDFs generated in CT WiZ to download and not display immediately. If your immunization record does not show, check the downloads folder on your device for the downloaded file. Chrome and Firefox are recommended browsers for using CT WiZ. 
• It is important that the immunization record you download from CT WiZ is saved securely on your personal/private device and if you print your immunization record, please store it in a safe place. 

It is important to note that Connecticut's SMART Health Card system is not a standalone app residents can download. 

Instead, the system allows people who were vaccinated in Connecticut to download a digital record of their COVID-19 vaccination with a QR code that can be read using a camera on a smartphone. Once the code is scanned, the health card can be saved on the user's smartphone using an app such as Apple Wallet. 

Users of older iPhones (below iOS 15) and Android phones will need to download a separate app — CommonPass for users of older iPhones or CommonHealth for Android devices. 

In either case, the first step is to go through the process above to access your vaccination records through the public portal on CT WiZ, the state's vaccination records database. This is best done on a computer or some other device than the one on which you intend to save your vaccine card, since you're going to need to scan the QR code on the vaccination record with your phone's camera to digitalize it. 

More information on how to load the digital cards, also known as "SMART Health Cards," onto smartphones can be obtained by visitingct.gov/getmyvaccinerecord.