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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
The law does not name a religious exemption.It has one belief exemption, for "conscientiously held beliefs."The law does not say what the beliefs must be.Write a statement and sign it in front of a notary.A notary is a person who watches you sign and stamps the paper.Only the shots it names are excused.
You do
1.Write a statement that names each shot you object to.Say your child has not had it because of your conscientiously held beliefs.That means beliefs you truly hold.2.Take it to a notary. Do not sign it yet.3.Sign it while the notary watches.4.Keep the stamped original.Send a copy with your shot papers.
The paper
a statement the parent writes. There is no state form to fill in. A notary has to witness it. It does not expire.
Source. revisor.mn.gov, health.mn.gov, health.state.mn.us
Write the statement
Choice 2. Personal belief exemption
The state says
The same belief statement covers a personal belief.The law asks for "conscientiously held beliefs." It does not say they must be religious.You can use the state health department's form.Or use a form a school or child care gives you.Or write your own.It must be signed in front of a notary.
You do
1.Fill in a form or write your own statement.Name each shot you object to.2.Sign it in front of a notary.3.Keep the stamped original.
The paper
a statement the parent writes. There is no state form to fill in. A notary has to witness it. It does not expire.
Source.
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 physician can sign a statement.It says a shot would harm the child's health.Or it says a lab test shows the child is already immune.Then the shot named in it is not needed.Only the shots it names are excused.
You do
1.Ask your child's physician to write and sign the statement.2.Have it name each shot, or the disease the lab test showed.3.Keep it in your home school folder, and send a copy with your shot papers.
The paper
a statement signed by a physician. A doctor signs it. It does not expire.
Source. revisor.mn.gov, health.mn.gov

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

Minnesota

Your choices

Choice 1. Religious exemption

Choice 2. Personal belief exemption

Choice 3. The shot record

Choice 4. Medical exemption

Good to know