The vaccination information you need to keep you and your loved ones safe can now be found right in the palm of your hand. CANImmunize is a new mobile app that tracks your immunizations on a smartphone.
This innovative app is the brainchild of Dr. Kumanan Wilson, a physician researcher at The Ottawa Hospital. Together with his team, Dr. Wilson developed the free, bilingual tool for all Canadians to use. The CANImmunize app can be useful for everyone – from travellers to new parents and families with older children.
“I got the idea to develop the app after a conversation with a tech savvy mom in a park. She complained to me about how difficult it was to track the yellow cards and that if she could do her banking on the phone why couldn’t we build an app to track immunizations. This led to the development of ImmunizeON the Ontario prototype which resulted in federal funding to develop the national version.” Dr. Kumanan Wilson
The CANImmunize app is very easy to navigate. You can simply add you and all of your family members’ profiles by typing in names, birth dates, health numbers, and your home province. Then, every time you or your child receives a vaccination you simply check it off on the app. It allows you to carry the entire family’s immunization information wherever you go. The app will also send notifications to your phone when your child is due for their next shot. You can easily see what they need to receive, and when.
There’s an added bonus for app users who are living in Ottawa. Ottawa Public Health and CANImmunize are currently running a pilot for Ottawa residents, which will allow parents to automatically update their children's immunization records with OPH using the CANImmunize app.
The CANImmunize app also provides an outbreaks map. This map will alert you of any disease outbreaks in your area, or any other location you may be travelling to. The app also provides different sections offering vital information about pregnancy and immunization, travel immunizations, and how vaccination schedules differ between provinces.
Through the app, Dr. Wilson and his team hope to educate children about the importance of vaccinations. The CANImmunize app provides a section with games and comics explaining how vaccinations work. They have also developed a digital comic Immunity Warriors, which teaches children about their immune systems and how vaccines are the best way to protect against influenza and other viruses. You can check out the comic here.
