Vaccine Information Statements (VIS)
A VIS is required by federal law before each dose of most routine vaccines. What it contains, when you should get one, and what to keep with the record.
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A Vaccine Information Statement is a document produced by the CDC that informs vaccine recipients — or their parents or legal representatives — about the benefits and risks of a vaccine. Federal law requires that it be handed over before each dose of sixteen named vaccines, not once at the start of a series. It is the sheet folded into the diaper bag between the wipes and a crushed cracker, and it is not junk mail.
This article covers what the document is, who must give it, and what to keep. It does not reproduce any individual sheet: the reactions listed for DTaP are not the ones listed for rotavirus, and only the current edition for that product is authoritative.
What is a Vaccine Information Statement?
The CDC's page about VISs, last reviewed 2 August 2024, defines it as a document produced by the CDC that informs recipients or their parents about a vaccine's benefits and risks. One sheet covers one vaccine. It is written for the waiting room, not for the chart.
Sixteen vaccines are covered by the requirement:
| Covered vaccines requiring a VIS |
|---|
| DTaP, DT, Td, Tdap |
| Hib, PCV, meningococcal |
| Hepatitis A, hepatitis B |
| MMR, MMRV, varicella |
| Polio, rotavirus, HPV |
| Influenza (inactivated and live intranasal) |
Every sheet carries a printed edition date. A photograph from 2019 and the version handed out this year are not the same document, and the difference matters when you are trying to work out what you were told.
Is a provider legally required to give one?
Yes. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 300aa-26, requires the provider to give the current VIS before every dose of the covered vaccines, regardless of the recipient's age. The CDC's instructions for required use, last reviewed 29 May 2025, put the obligation as providing "a copy to keep of the relevant current edition vaccine information materials" to the parent or legal representative, or to the adult being vaccinated.
The provider also has to write two things into the permanent medical record: the edition date of the VIS that was distributed, and the date it was provided. That is why asking for the sheet is not being difficult — the clinic is already required to document it.
The CDC's VIS frequently asked questions, last reviewed 18 June 2024, explains why the requirement repeats at every dose rather than once per series: "Since a child's medical condition might change between doses, a VIS must be provided prior to administration of each dose to allow the parent to review the child's situation and determine whether or not to withdraw consent for additional doses."
What is on a VIS, and what is not?
On it: what the vaccine is for, who should talk to a clinician before receiving it, the reactions known for that product, and where to go if something happens afterward. It is the same information given to every family in the waiting room, which is exactly what makes it quotable later.
Not on it: your child's history, the dose your child received, the clinic's name, or an answer to a question about your particular situation. It is not a consent form, and it is not a complete account of every medical circumstance. The CDC's possible side effects page covers the general baseline across vaccines; the VIS narrows it to the product in the syringe.
That is why it pairs with what to expect the evening after a dose. The sheet is the official list. A blog is not.
When should you receive it?
Before the dose. The CDC's FAQ is specific: if the parent or legal representative is present at the time of vaccination, the VIS — paper or electronic — must be provided before the child is vaccinated. A sheet produced at the checkout desk afterwards has missed its own purpose.
If a visit includes more than one covered vaccine, you should receive the matching statements, or the multi-vaccine sheet that stands in for them. That comes up constantly at infant visits, where combination products mean four or five diseases and fewer needles than the count suggests. Ask before you leave the room, when reading it can still change what happens next. Reading ahead the night before a well-child visit that includes vaccines is the low-effort version.
Travel and less common vaccines have statements too. The CDC's list separates routine from non-routine products, so a typhoid or yellow fever visit is not exempt from the same conversation.
What is worth keeping with the record?
Not a museum of crumpled pages. A workable minimum is three items: the date of the visit, the vaccine name exactly as it is written on the paperwork, and either the paper sheet or a note of which edition you were given. If you photograph the sheet, photograph the edition date line as well — that line is the part that dates the document.
The CDC's current VIS page lists the live English editions grouped as multi-vaccine, routine and non-routine, each with the date of its most recent version. It shows what is current, which is not necessarily what you were handed in March of a previous year. Vaxnext holds the visit date and the vaccine name per family member on the phone, with no account, which covers two of the three; the third stays in the folder with the paper.
FAQ
Does a VIS have to be paper?
No. The CDC's VIS FAQ states that a statement may be provided electronically, including by email or as a weblink. If the parent or legal representative is present when the child is vaccinated, the sheet — paper or electronic — must be provided before the dose. Patients may decline to take it, but the provider is expected to offer the opportunity.
Is one VIS enough when several vaccines are given at once?
Sometimes. The CDC publishes a multi-vaccine sheet as an optional alternative for children receiving several covered vaccines at one visit, and providers who prefer the individual sheets may keep using them. The CDC notes the multi-vaccine version is not intended for adolescents or adults. Either way, you should be able to name every vaccine given that day.
Where do I find the VIS for a vaccine given last year?
The CDC's current VIS page shows the most recent edition of each sheet, not an archive of past ones. If the edition date you were given differs from the one posted today, the posted sheet is close but not identical. This is the argument for noting the edition date at the visit, or photographing the sheet before it disappears into a bag.
Not medical advice. This article is general information based on public U.S. CDC pages. It does not replace a clinician. Schedules and country entry rules change — confirm the current official page and your own situation before you act.