Date last reviewed:
Friday, Jun 21, 2024
On this page:
- Have your child’s record checked
- Submit your child’s record for the Provincial Immunization Registry
- What if I don't have a record of my child's immunizations?
- Where your child can get immunized
- Is there information on immunization in different languages?
- Are vaccines free in BC?
- Keep a record of all the vaccines your child receives.
- If you plan to travel
- Brochure
If you've just moved here, it's important to ensure your child has received all the vaccines recommended for children in BC. These vaccines may differ from those recommended in your home country or province.
Have your child's record checked
Contact your local public health unit, community health centre, primary care clinic, or nursing station to have your child's record checked. A nurse can:
- Check the record.
- Help translate the record if needed.
- Tell you if your child is missing any recommended vaccines.
- Give missing routine vaccines for free.
Submit your child’s record for the Provincial Immunization Registry
- If your child’s immunization records are in English or French or have been translated by a certified translator, you can submit the record electronically at immunization record.gov.bc.ca.
- Learn who should use this service and what happens after you submit a record.
What if I don’t have a record of my child's immunizations?
- Try contacting your doctor's office or clinic in your home country or province and ask that they send your records to you.
- If you don’t have an immunization record, it’s still important to speak with your doctor, nurse practitioner, or a nurse at your local public health unit, community health centre, primary care clinic, or nursing station about what vaccines are recommended.
- Without an immunization record (or proof of immunity to disease), a person is considered unimmunized and unprotected and should generally be vaccinated again to ensure protection. It is safe to repeat vaccines.
Information
Vaccination Status Reporting Regulation (VSRR)
This regulation was put into place in 2019 and supports the collection of immunization records of school-age children by public health so that all records are stored in the Provincial Immunization Registry. Learn more.
Where your child can get immunized
- Your child can get immunized at your local public health unit, community health centre, primary care clinic, or nursing station.
- Some doctors and nurse practitioners also give vaccines.
- Many pharmacists immunize children 4 and older (2 and older for the nasal spray flu vaccine).
Is there information on immunization in different languages?
- The vaccine HealthLinkBC Files are easy-to-understand fact sheets that have been translated into multiple languages.
- You can find links to the HealthLink BC Files on the vaccine pages.
- You can also contact HealthLinkBC at 8-1-1 for interpretation services over the phone. Translation services are available in over 130 languages.
Are vaccines free in BC?
- Routine vaccines are free. Routine vaccines are those that are recommended for all children in BC and are part of BC's immunization schedule.
- If you don’t have health insurance under BC’s Medical Service Plan (MSP), you may be charged a fee to have a vaccine given at a doctor’s office or pharmacy. You will not be charged this fee at a public health unit, community health centre, primary care clinic, or nursing station.
Keep a record of all the vaccines your child receives.
- It’s important to keep your child’s immunization record in a safe place.
- The record may be needed for daycare, school, camps, travel, or specific jobs.
- You can access a record of any vaccine received through public health or a community pharmacy in BC through Health Gateway.
If you plan to travel
- If you will be traveling anywhere outside of Canada, it’s important to speak to your health care provider or contact a travel health clinic as early as possible, ideally at least 4 to 6 weeks before your travel date.
- The travel clinic can give you advice on any other vaccines your family may need.
BROCHURE
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Translations [PDFs]
عربى (Arabic) [973.4KB] | 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) [998.4KB] | 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese) [985.1KB] | Français (French) [614.8KB] | 한국어 (Korean) [520.3KB] | فارسی (Farsi) [787.9KB] | ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi) [928.3KB] | Русский (Russian) [696.6KB] | Español (Spanish) [659.9KB] | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) [677.8KB]
