It is up to you to keep track of your vaccinations.
But many adults neglect them.
– This can mean that the person’s protection is not up to date and possibly diseases can spread, says Charlotta Zacharias, doctor at Vaccin directly.
On your 18th birthday, you yourself become responsible for maintaining your vaccinations – where the recommendation is to top up vaccinations against tetanus and diphtheria every twenty years.
But it is common for adults to have no idea what they have been vaccinated against or when it is time to refill a dose.
– Many are used to the state taking care of them. With adult vaccinations, you need to know and have knowledge about them yourself, and here there are shortcomings, says Charlotta Zacharias, doctor at Vaccin direkt.
Prerequisites are missing
Since 2021, there has been a national vaccination register in Sweden, but it only applies to the doses given within the national vaccination programme.
– It would have been desirable for all vaccines taken from BVC, health centers and private vaccination clinics to be visible on 1177, but there are no conditions for that because regions, health centers and vaccination clinics have different record systems that cannot always transfer their information to 1177, says Charlotta Zacharias .
According to Charlotta Zacharias, the ignorance of adults and lack of records is troublesome both for the healthcare system and also for the individual.
– This can mean that the person’s protection is not up to date and possibly diseases can spread. But it also makes it difficult for authorities and researchers to know exactly how many people get vaccinated and what effects it has in the long term, says Charlotta Zacharias.
Physical card
The childhood vaccinations are collected and can be requested from regional archives. While the vaccinations in adulthood are available from the respective healthcare provider.
– The journals are only saved for ten years and if a company has gone bankrupt, it can be difficult to get hold of its journals, says Charlotta Zacharias.
The safest way to keep track of your vaccinations is therefore an even more old-fashioned method.
– Save your physical vaccination cards, says Charlotta Zacharias.