Vaccines - Adults, Healthcare Workers and Older Students

Immunizations are not just for children. While many adults are immunized as children, they continue to need immunizations for several reasons, including:

• Some immunizations do not provide lifelong protection and boosters doses are needed as adults.
• Some adults may have missed receiving some immunizations as a child or lost their records.
• Adults are eligible for some immunizations that children are not eligible for.

What immunizations do I need?

An immunization schedule is a list of vaccines that are recommended to individuals of all ages. All the immunizations on the Ontario schedule are free for those who live here, including newcomers. To learn more about the schedule for adults, visit Ministry of Health website

Getting your immunization record

An immunization record is a document that tracks the immunizations that a person has had during their lifetime. In Ontario, it is common for individuals to have a “yellow immunization card.” Adults should check at home or with their family members to see if they have a yellow card and can check with their healthcare provider (i.e. family doctor or nurse practitioner).
If you do not have your record, or your records are incomplete, you can try and access your immunization record through the Ontario database.

• If you are not a resident of London or Middlesex-County, you should enter the database through your local public health unit. Call them if your record is not accessible online.
• You must have a valid Ontario Health Card to use the database and will need your postal code.
• TB skin test results are not included in the database.
• Healthcare providers do not report the immunizations they give to public health. Therefore, your online record may only include the immunizations you received when you were in school. Any immunizations you received later in life will not be in the database unless you have reported them.
• If you were born before 1980, you may not have a record in the database.

Lost records and lab testing

You should do your best to try to find record of the immunizations you have received. According to the Canadian Immunization Guide, those missing incomplete or lost records should be considered and started on an immunization schedule appropriate for their age.

While lab testing, in the form of blood testing, can be done to check to see if you are protected against certain vaccine-preventable diseases is possible, it is not routinely recommended for those without immunization record. If a health care provider provides an order for blood testing, it can check for protection against the following diseases: varicella (chickenpox), measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B.

Note: The Immunization Clinic at the Middlesex-London Health Unit does NOT provide orders for blood testing.

Where can adults get immunized

The Immunization Clinic at the Middlesex-London Health Unit does not routinely see individuals 18 years of age and older.

• Adults may be able to receive the immunizations they are eligible to receive for free at their health care provider office or a walk-in clinic. Students are encouraged to check with their school’s student health services.
• If you are wanting a vaccine that you do not qualify to receive for free, you may require a prescription and to pay any necessary fees.
• Pharmacies currently are only able to provide the seasonal influenza and COVID vaccines for free. You will be required to pay for any other vaccines.