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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
For religious, use the same state form, Form 454.There are two ways:An officer of your religious group writes that you are members, and that the group relies on prayer or spiritual means alone for healing.Or you write that your own religious beliefs do not allow shots.You write it on the form, or attach a sworn statement.Sign the form in front of a notary.The health department has 60 days to decide.An approved form lasts up to 12 months.The law does not allow a personal or philosophical exemption.
You do
1.Fill in Form 454 and check the religious box.2.Write your statement on the form, or attach the officer's letter.3.Sign it in front of a notary.4.Mail the original about 60 days before you need it.Use only the current form from the health department.
The paper
Certificate of Exemption from School/Daycare Immunization Requirements, Form 454. The state publishes the form. A notary has to witness it. It has to be written again every year. Open the form
Source. nmhealth.org, srca.nm.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
New Mexico has two exemptions: medical and religious.An exemption lets a child skip a shot.For medical, a doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner signs a letter.The letter says a shot would seriously harm the child's life or health.It goes with the state's form, Form 454.You sign the form in front of a notary. A notary is a person who watches you sign.An approved form lasts up to 12 months.
You do
1.Get the signed letter from the child's doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner.2.Fill in Form 454 and check the medical box.3.Sign it in front of a notary.4.Mail the original to the state health department, PO Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502.

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

New Mexico

Your choices

Choice 1. Religious exemption

Choice 2. The shot record

Choice 3. Medical exemption

Good to know