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Your choices

The law allows each choice below. Read what each one covers.

An exemption is a paper that says a shot rule does not apply to this person.

Before you decide: what each shot is for, and your rights

Choice 1. Religious exemption
The state says
Alaska has a religious exemption.An exemption excuses your child from the shots.A parent or guardian signs the state form.It says shots conflict with the beliefs and practices of your church or religious group.It must be signed in front of a notary.It is good from July 1 to June 30.It must be renewed each year.Changing the form's words may cancel it.Personal or philosophical reasons are not allowed.
You do
1.Print the State of Alaska Religious Exemption form from the state packet.2.Sign it in front of a notary.3.Give it to the school, program or child care.
The paper
State of Alaska Religious Exemption Form. The state publishes the form. A notary has to witness it. How long it lasts: Every year (good July 1 through June 30). Open the form
Source. akleg.gov, law.cornell.edu, health.alaska.gov
Get the state form
Choice 2. The shot record
You do
1.Ask the doctor's office or the health department for a copy.2.Put one copy for each student in your folder.
The paper
The shot record from the doctor's office or the health department.
Choice 3. Medical exemption
The state says
The medical exemption is a state form.An Alaska licensed provider fills it in and signs it.That can be a doctor (MD or DO).It can also be a physician assistant or an advanced nurse practitioner.The form says the shots would harm your child's health.Or it says they would harm someone in your family or home.A separate part of the form shows a child is already immune.
You do
1.Print the State of Alaska Medical Exemption and Immunity form.2.Take it to the provider to mark the shots and sign.3.Give the signed form to the school, program or child care.
The paper
State of Alaska Medical Exemption / Immunity Form. A doctor signs it. It does not expire. Open the form

Everywhere in America

Where a shot record actually gets asked for, and where it does not.

School enrollment: Enrolling a child in a school, public, private or religious, means handing that school an immunization certificate or an exemption, because each state writes its own school rule.
Licensed daycare and preschool: A state's school rule usually reaches licensed child care too, and the word that decides it is licensed. A drop in nursery or a parents day out below the licensing line is usually outside it.
Club and recreation sports: A club asks for age, fees and a sports physical. The playing rules US Youth Soccer publishes carry no immunization condition, and neither do Little League's published eligibility rules. A shot rule turns up when the venue does it: a school gym, a hospital, a licensed camp.
Scouting: Scouting America's annual health form asks for a tetanus shot within the last 10 years, and Scouting America publishes an immunization exemption request form for families who decline.
Summer camp: A camp accredited by the American Camp Association has to collect a health history from every camper, and the association's own guidance says a signed refusal counts as the record.
Dual enrollment: A community college course, and coursework taken online, often sits outside a state's college immunization law. North Carolina and Texas both write that exclusion into their own statutes.
Living on campus: Both of those statutes are written around the student who is on campus full time, so the moment to plan for is the first full time semester on a campus.
Enlisting: Nobody is turned away from enlistment for being unvaccinated. Recruits are immunized by the military in their first days of basic training.
Healthcare training: A nursing or allied health student can be admitted to the program and still be blocked from the clinical hours, because the clinical site, not the college, decides which exemptions it accepts.
Travel abroad: Some countries ask for proof of yellow fever vaccination on an international certificate before letting a traveler in. A doctor can write a medical waiver on that certificate, and the destination country may or may not accept it.

State Setup & Compliance

Alaska

Your choices

Choice 1. Religious exemption

Choice 2. The shot record

Choice 3. Medical exemption

Good to know