Screenshots from California's vaccine digital verification system, and a sample image of what the vaccine record will look like. .

The California Department of Public Health rolled out the state’s vaccine digital verification system Friday.

Now, anyone with a smartphone can get access to a digital version of their COVID-19 vaccination card if they need to show it to a business or other venue.

To access your digital vaccine record, you first go to myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov, where you enter your first and last name, date of birth and an email or cell phone number associated with your vaccine record.

I did not remember if I wrote down a cell phone or an email when I got my vaccine — and neither seem to be associated with my vaccine record.

I entered her information and created a PIN for her, and she got a text with a link to her digital vaccine record and QR code.

When I asked about this, Sami Gallegos, the press secretary for the state’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, told me that I should screenshot “the record page that includes a QR code” and that once I have that saved on my phone, I would “not need to keep logging in to retrieve the record.” The link to the QR code expires after 24 hours, Gallegos confirmed, but the QR code in the screenshot is valid beyond that.

That site takes you to a chat box, or the “virtual assistant.” There, you enter more detailed information — your name, date of birth and address, which brand of vaccine you got, your vaccination date and where you got it — and upload a photo of both your paper vaccine card and your state-issued ID.

They suggested calling my vaccine clinic or my county health department to figure out how to get my contact information associated with my vaccine record.

If you do successfully get your digital record, state officials stressed that you should still keep your paper record in a safe place, and that one form is not more valid than the other