Our Story

Instead of using paper records to track your vaccinations that always get lost or forgotten, what if you could track them on your phone? A mother asked this question to Dr. Kumanan Wilson, a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital, in a park one day in 2011. This sparked an idea for Dr. Wilson, who, along with engineering student Cameron Bell, made it a reality. A prototype for Ontario called ImmunizeON launched the following year. After a successful release, our team considered the prospect of creating an app that would help people across Canada stay up-to-date with their vaccinations. Led by Dr. Wilson and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, our team partnered with Immunize Canada to expand the platform nationally, calling it ImmunizeCA. In 2016, we changed the name to CANImmunize, symbolizing a digital platform that connects Canadians to their own vaccination records. CANImmunize makes it easy for people to stay up-to-date with their vaccinations by sending reminders for when it’s time to be vaccinated. Now as a startup company, CANImmunize continues to focus on providing digital solutions to government partners to help modernize the immunization system, while keeping the app platform free of charge to users and upholding the highest privacy standards.

The app also provides access to information and resources about vaccination from trusted Canadian health sources so people can make informed vaccination decisions for themselves and their families. A recipient of the 2015 Connected to the Community award, CANImmunize is leading the way in digital health in Canada, and a tool which we are proud to call our own. The latest version, CANImmunize Accounts, offers users a more secure way of tracking your vaccinations and accessing them between electronic devices. The app is available for free on iOS and Android devices and on the web at www.canimmunize.ca.

The content and resources provided by CANImmunize are generated by Dr. Wilson and his team of scientists and engineers, and its partners, including medical experts from leading Canadian Health Organizations. The topics covered are relevant to the general Canadian population. All immunization-related website content undergoes a strict review and approval process by an independent external expert review committee led by Dr. Anne Pham-Huy, Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist and a liaison committee member for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, and Dr. Charles Hui, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). The CANImmunize Knowledge Centre is designed to help you make the most informed decisions about your and your family’s vaccination needs, but should not replace medical advice. No content on the CANImmunize platform implies endorsement.