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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. Personal belief exemption
The state says
The state calls this the personal beliefs exemption.The parent or guardian signs it.It says you got shot information from the state health department.It says you understand the risks of shots and of skipping them.It says that, due to personal beliefs, you do not agree to the shots.The state form is marked kindergarten through 12th grade only.
You do
1.Print the state's Personal Beliefs Exemption Form.2.Mark each shot you are declining.3.Initial and date each one.4.Fill in every part, then sign.5.Give it to the school office before the first day.
The paper
Personal Beliefs Exemption Form. The state publishes the form. How long it lasts: Fill out a new one for each new school, or when the state changes the form or the shots it requires. Open the form
Source. azleg.gov, azdhs.gov
Get the state form
Choice 2. Religious exemption
The state says
The religious exemption is only for child care, preschool and Head Start.Kindergarten through 12th grade cannot use it.The parent signs a statement.It says your child is being raised in a religion that teaches against shots.
You do
1.Print the state's Religious Beliefs Exemption Form.2.Mark each shot you are declining.3.Initial, date and sign it.4.Give it to the child care, preschool or Head Start director.Use the newest form from the state website. Do not change it.
The paper
Religious Beliefs Exemption Form. The state publishes the form. How long it lasts: Fill out a new one for each new program, or when the state changes the form or the shots it requires. Open the form
Choice 3. 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 4. Medical exemption
The state says
A doctor or nurse practitioner signs this one.The parent or guardian signs it too.It says a shot may harm your child's health.It names the health problem and how long it may last.It lasts only as long as the problem lasts.
You do
1.Take the state's Medical Exemption Form to the doctor or nurse practitioner.2.They list the shots and mark it permanent or temporary.3.If it is temporary, they write the end date.4.You sign it and give it to the school or program.
The paper
Medical Exemption Form. A doctor signs it. How long it lasts: As long as the condition lasts, since the health care provider marks the form permanent or writes an end date. 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

Arizona

Your choices

Choice 1. Personal belief exemption

Choice 2. Religious exemption

Choice 3. The shot record

Choice 4. Medical exemption

Good to know