And switching gears back to COVID, at the top of the news we told you about the new regulations that will come into effect tomorrow. One of the biggest changes is that you'll now require a vaccination card or a negative test to enter into government buildings. And if you feel like carrying around your vax card might be a bit inconvenient, well, for as little as four dollars, you can have it inside your wallet.
Printing companies have gone down a new business route by shrinking and laminating vax cards for easier storage and portability. And with the new regulation, people are flocking to these establishments to hop on the trend.
Courtney Menzies visited two places who offer this service and has the story.
Starting tomorrow, if you have any sort of business inside a government
office, you'll need to show either your vaccination card or a negative
test.
And while you may be able to fold your test, for those who are vaxxed, it's
not so simple carrying around the card.
But, as is the norm in these abnormal times, businesses are adapting.
Printing companies are now copying, shrinking, and laminating vax cards to
resemble ID's that fit right into your purse or wallet.
Giovanni Alamilla - Owner, Stationary House
"We saw the need because the original cards is so big especially when
you look at the men walking around with the big card, they can't really
fold it up and put it in their purse, so a little ID size is more
convenient."
Jose Ketz - Salesperson, Creative Marketing
"We thought about a convenient way of doing your vaccine cards because
a lot of people don't want to be carrying it around so we decided to do
an ID size."
And people are flocking to get their vax cards done.
Courtney Menzies
"How long have you guys been doing it for?"
Jose Ketz
"We've been doing it for at least a month or maybe a little more than a
month."
Courtney Menzies
"And since then have you gotten a lot of people coming in?"
Jose Ketz
"Oh yes, there's a lot of people that comes in for it."
Giovanni Alamilla
"For about two or two and a half weeks we've been getting a little over
a hundred people per day. They're coming in to minimize their card.
Again, it's just the convenience having something that small in your
pocket."
Courtney Menzies
"How quick is the process?"
Giovanni Alamilla
"About 2-3 minutes but if you have ten people waiting in front of you
then it'll take a little longer."
And at Stationary House, you get the added bonus of having your ID printed
on the back and laminating your actual card.
Giovanni Alamilla
"We're not altering it in any way all we do is minimize it and what we
also do is we put a copy of the social security card or driver's
license on the back of it. So we're doing 3.95 for the card, the
information side of the card with your social security or driver's
license, color, for 3.95 and for 5.95 you can get the pouch and the
lanyard to get it. Some people laminate the big ones because they still
feel the need to protect it from getting wet or whatever, you can open
it if you need to get a booster shot, you can open it up and they can
sign it again."
But while things are a little different at Creative Marketing, you can
still have the option of getting your ID included.
Jose Ketz
"You can get a copy and we can reduce the size but we can't laminate
the original, we can't touch it in any way or form. I know people have
said you guys are tampering with the card, but we don't. we don't touch
it, we don't do anything with the original, the big size, at least not
here, you can't get it laminated, you can get a smaller size or you can
get a copy and laminate it if you want but not the original vaccination
card. What we do is that we take the social security card and we do a
smaller copy and we put it in there so it's your actual social security
card and we just put a copy in your copy."
And if you're questioning whether laminating or shrinking counts as
tampering and will not be allowed, the latest SI says quote, "proof of
immunization means a digital copy or hard copy of a COVID-19 Vaccination
Record Card issued and stamped by the Ministry responsible for health in
Belize or by the relevant authority of a foreign state, whether laminated
or preserved in any other form."
Other places who offer this service include Prints Decor and Angelus Press.