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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
Montana has a religious exemption.An exemption is a paper that lets a child skip a shot.It is a state form, HES 113. You swear that shots go against your religious beliefs and practices.For a child under 18, a parent, guardian or other adult who has care and custody of the child signs.The form has no notary line. A notary is an official who watches you sign.Neither the law nor the form sets an end date.The law calls for the state's form, not a letter you write.
You do
1.Print the schools version for a school, preschool or college.2.Print the child care version for child care.3.Sign it, date it and hand it in.
The paper
Religious Exemption Statement, form HES 113. The state publishes the form. It does not expire. Open the form
Source. mca.legmt.gov, dphhs.mt.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
Montana has a medical exemption.A health care provider signs it. The provider must be allowed to give that shot.The provider must have treated your child before, or given a shot your child reacted to.It says which shots are not safe for your child, and for how long.The state form is HES 101A. A signed statement from the provider is also accepted.The state health department may not review it to grant or deny it.
You do
1.Ask the provider to fill in and sign form HES 101A, or write a signed statement.2.Check that it says how long it lasts.3.File it at the school with the latest shot record.
The paper
Medical Exemption Statement, form HES 101A. How long it lasts: For the length of time the provider writes in the duration field. 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

Montana

Your choices

Choice 1. Religious exemption

Choice 2. The shot record

Choice 3. Medical exemption

Good to know