Proof of a child’s vaccination: must you share the whole health record booklet?

A child’s French health record booklet contains much more than vaccinations: family history, examinations and other medical information. It is protected by medical confidentiality. When an organisation requests vaccination proof, do not automatically send all this content.

Service Public specifies that nobody can require disclosure of the health record booklet and that consulting it requires parental permission. This does not remove a request for vaccination proof for admission to a group childcare or educational setting. Ask which exact document is expected rather than confusing that proof with the whole booklet.

The vaccination pages can serve as a certificate if the vaccination concerned is dated and signed by the professional who administered it, with that professional’s name and address. Check these details before presenting the appropriate proof. A completed box without these details does not meet those conditions.

In the booklet model distributed by Assurance Maladie, the double pages 117-118 and 119-120 cover vaccinations. Service Public explains that they can serve as a certificate under the stated conditions. Find the vaccination pages in your copy and ask which proof to provide if you are unsure.

The full booklet remains useful for healthcare: it should be presented at consultations, hospital admissions and examinations so the professional has the necessary information. If it is entrusted to another person, Service Public recommends a sealed envelope marked ‘secret médical’ — medical confidentiality.

Before handing over a document, reread the organisation’s request and check the certificate details with the professional if necessary. Proof of a vaccination and which vaccines are required in a given situation are separate questions. This discussion does not establish that flu or Covid-19 vaccines are compulsory for school.