The school asks for it. So does a travel clinic, a new employer, a college placement or a doctor in another province. Your immunization record is the list of vaccines you, or your child, have been given, and in Canada there is no single place to get it.
Health care is run by the provinces and territories, and so are vaccine records. The Government of Canada’s own page on accessing your vaccination history says to contact your primary health care provider or your local, provincial or territorial public health unit, and then lists a different route for each province and territory.
This guide covers the largest provinces in detail, the rest briefly, what schools ask for, and what to do when a vaccine you know you had is not on the record. Everything below is linked to the government or health authority concerned.
Disclosure
I am a doctor, and I founded exora, a personal health record app. It appears once, near the end, and I am explicit there about what it is not. Nothing in this article is advice about which vaccines you or your child need; that is for your family doctor, nurse practitioner or public health unit.
The short version
- Ontario: contact your local public health unit. For school-age children, parents report and view records through Immunization Connect Ontario (ICON), and the paper “yellow card” is still the record many families hold.
- British Columbia: Health Gateway shows records in the Provincial Immunization Registry. It does not show everything, and you can submit what is missing.
- Alberta: your MyHealth Alberta Account, formerly called MyHealth Records, if you are 14 or older. Otherwise, a public health or community health centre.
- Quebec: request your record from the Québec Vaccination Registry, online if you are 14 or older, or in person or by mail.
- Everywhere: if a dose is missing, the fix is with the place that gave it, or with your public health unit. Keep your own copy, because the Canadian Immunization Guide says people without adequate records are treated as unimmunized.
Ontario
For adults, the federal list simply says, for Ontario, to contact your local health unit.
For children, the system works differently from most provinces, and the difference catches parents out. Ontario’s page on vaccines for children at school says:
- After any vaccine, make sure your health care provider updates your child’s record, “the ‘yellow card’”.
- “You must report immunizations to your local public health unit.” Health care providers do not report these records for you.
- Use the Immunization Connect Ontario (ICON) tool, through your local public health unit’s website, to update and view your child’s records.
So in Ontario, a vaccine your child had at the family doctor’s office may not be on public health’s record until you report it. If the school says a vaccine is missing, check first that it was reported.
COVID-19 records are separate. Ontario says that as of March 13, 2026, the enhanced vaccine certificates are no longer available for printing or download. COVID-19 vaccine records can be viewed or downloaded through your public health unit’s ICON portal, or by contacting the unit. Some records may not be in ICON; if yours is not, Ontario says to contact the provider that gave you the vaccine.
What Ontario schools require
Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, children who attend primary or secondary school in Ontario must be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease, whooping cough (pertussis) and, for children born in 2010 or later, chickenpox (varicella).
There are exemptions: a medical exemption signed by a physician or nurse practitioner, or an exemption for reasons of conscience or religious belief, which needs a vaccine education session and a signed statement. Ontario says students whose records are not up to date “may be excluded from attending school under certain circumstances”, and children who are not fully immunized may be kept home during an outbreak.
British Columbia
B.C. keeps a Provincial Immunization Registry, and you view it through Health Gateway, signing in with the BC Services Card app.
- Children: a parent or guardian can add a child aged 11 or younger to their Health Gateway account and see the child’s immunization history and schedule. Immunizations are the only records shown for a dependent, and access ends when the child turns 12.
- What it does not show: HealthLinkBC explains that Health Gateway only shows immunizations that are in the Provincial Immunization Registry, which includes those given at public health clinics and pharmacies in B.C. Vaccines from other providers, such as a family doctor, a travel clinic or anywhere outside B.C., may not appear.
- Most B.C. families also receive a paper Child Health Passport, usually in the birth pack, with space to record immunizations.
If something is missing, you can add or update a record in the registry. You need your Personal Health Number and an image of the official record, and records not in English or French need a certified translation. B.C. says processing may take 10 to 14 days. You can also ask your local health unit for a copy of your records.
Alberta
Alberta’s online record is the MyHealth Alberta Account, which some older pages and guides still call MyHealth Records. Immunizations sit under My Personal Records.
Alberta’s page on getting immunization records says:
- You can get your records online if you are 14 or older, signing in with your Alberta.ca Account and choosing My Personal Records, then Immunizations.
- New vaccines can take 2 to 3 weeks to appear.
- For a child under 14, or if you cannot get online, request records from your local public health or community health centre. You must be the child’s legal guardian, and you may be asked to prove it.
- If you were immunized outside Alberta, you can upload the record to be reviewed, verified and added. Parents or guardians can do this for anyone under 18.
COVID-19 vaccine records in Alberta are handled through a separate tool, listed on the federal page.
Quebec
Quebec has kept an electronic Québec Vaccination Registry since it was rolled out across the regions between 2014 and 2018. To get a copy of what it holds, Quebec’s page on requesting your vaccination record gives three routes:
- Online, through the Votre Santé portal, in French or English, if you are 14 or older.
- In person, as a paper copy from a health and social services centre. This is also the route to request a record for a child under 14.
- By mail, using the access request form. Allow about 20 calendar days.
Requests cannot be made by telephone. If the record is wrong or incomplete, contact the health and social services facility in your region to learn the procedure. The COVID-19 proof of vaccination is no longer issued in Quebec; your vaccination information comes from the registry instead.
The other provinces and territories
From the Government of Canada’s list of provincial and territorial routes:
- Saskatchewan: MySaskHealthRecord.
- Manitoba: the Manitoba Health immunization record.
- New Brunswick: MyHealthNB if you are 16 or older, or your local public health unit.
- Nova Scotia: VaxRecordsNS.
- Prince Edward Island: your local public health nursing office.
- Newfoundland and Labrador: your regional health unit.
- Northwest Territories and Nunavut: your local public health unit.
- Yukon: your community health centre.
New Brunswick also checks records at school entry. Under section 42.1 of the province’s Public Health Act, a child starting school in New Brunswick for the first time needs proof of immunization, unless a parent provides a medical exemption or a written objection.
The old COVID-19 proof of vaccination
Many people still have the QR-code certificate from 2021 and 2022 and wonder whether it counts. The Government of Canada says that although it is no longer required for travel, you may still be able to get one from your province or territory. It is no longer available in British Columbia, Quebec or Ontario, where you go to Health Gateway, the Québec Vaccination Registry or your public health unit instead.
It only ever showed COVID-19 vaccines. It is not your full immunization record.
Why your own copy matters
Records go missing. A family moves province, a clinic closes, a yellow card goes through the wash. The Canadian Immunization Guide is clear about what happens next: written or electronic documentation is preferred, a parent’s recollection “should not be accepted as evidence of immunization” (with a possible exception for the flu vaccine), and people without adequate records “should be considered unimmunized and started on an immunization schedule appropriate for their age and risk factors”.
In other words, “I’m sure I had it” means another needle. The Government of Canada’s advice on children’s vaccines is simple: keep your child’s vaccine record in a safe place and bring it to every vaccination appointment so it can be updated. It also notes that schedules may be different depending on the province or territory you live in, which matters if you move.
If a vaccine is missing or wrong
- Find your own proof. A yellow card, a Child Health Passport, a pharmacy receipt, a travel clinic certificate or a letter from the clinic.
- Go to the source. Ask the clinic, pharmacy or health unit that gave the vaccine to record or correct it.
- Report it where your province asks. In Ontario, report your child’s vaccines to your public health unit through ICON. In B.C., submit the record to the Provincial Immunization Registry. In Alberta, upload it to be verified.
- Vaccines from overseas: take the original record to your family doctor or public health unit. Have it translated if it is not in English or French, since B.C., for one, asks for a certified translation. Our guide to getting medical records translated in Canada covers who does that.
If you have just arrived in Canada, our guide to moving countries with your medical records covers what to bring. If you are about to travel, a travel clinic will want to see your history too: see travelling abroad with a medical condition.
Where exora fits
The record you get back is often a PDF from a portal, a printout from public health, a photo of a yellow card or a certificate from a travel clinic, and they end up in different places. Upload them to exora, and exora reads them for you, with a reading system built for medical records. Each vaccine goes into one record with its dates, linked back to the page it came from. A dose that appears on three documents is counted once. Vaccines a record lists as due are kept as due, not given. exora is free to start, with an optional membership.
Turn on the schedule and your doses are matched against a Canadian schedule, showing what is overdue, due soon and coming up, and the phone app can remind you before a vaccination is due. Each child can have their own profile, with their own record and schedule. There is more on the immunization records feature page. Your province’s own schedule, and your public health unit, remain the authority on what is due.
Your health data is never used to train AI models. It is stored in Sydney, Australia, which is outside Canada. Details are on our security page.
Where it does not help:
- It is not your official record. A school, public health unit or employer will want the record from your province or provider. A missing vaccine still has to be fixed at the source.
- No connection to any provincial portal or registry. exora does not connect to ICON, Health Gateway, MyHealth Alberta or the Québec Vaccination Registry. You download or request your records, then upload them.
- No Canadian certification. It is not certified by any Canadian health authority.
- It can misread. The reading is automated, so check anything that matters against the original, which is always one tap away.
- It is not medical advice. It organizes and presents your information. It does not tell you which vaccines to have.
If you are keeping records for children and an older parent at once, our guide to family health records for kids, parents and carers covers who can see what. And for the rest of your health record, see our guide to getting your medical records in Canada.
Claims about immunization records, school requirements and the COVID-19 proof of vaccination are sourced to the Government of Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and provincial governments and health authorities, linked inline, and were checked on November 9, 2026. Portals and procedures change; check your province’s current page before you rely on a step. This article is general information, not medical advice.
