Keeping Track of Your Child’s Immunizations

Maybe your child is changing schools or doctors, or going away to college, and you need to supply immunization records. Do you know where to look?

The Wisconsin Immunization Registry  is a secure internet data system that tracks the immunizations given to people in Wisconsin. Parent, guardians or health care providers need to furnish the child’s name, birthdate, and social security number to access records.

By keeping a record of the immunizations given, health care providers, parents, and legal guardians know if and when a child has been given a vaccine. This helps to keep children up-to-date on all needed vaccines.  Many children receive immunizations from more than one provider.  Without access to a child’s immunization information, it can be difficult to know which vaccine a child needs at any particular time.  This can cause lapses in immunization, or unnecessary repeat immunizations. 

A top priority of the North Shore Health Department is the reduction and elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases in children.  Children under two years old are especially vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases. By the age of two, a child needs 24 immunizations to be fully protected from diseases like pertussis, tetanus, polio and measles. 

In the North Shore, less than 60 percent of children are fully immunized by the age of two. Wisconsin has a school immunization law with requirements for each grade.  Once North Shore children are in school, over 98 percent are fully immunized.