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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 puts a religious belief and a personal belief on one line of the state's form.In the online lesson you pick Religious.You get the form free after the lesson, about 15 minutes.Or you can meet in person at a local health department, for a fee of up to $25.Give a copy of the form to the school or child care program.The form stays good while your child stays in Utah's public school system.The law does not say how long it lasts for child care or a private school.
You do
1.Do the online lesson.2.Pick Religious and choose the shots.3.Print the form.4.Give a copy to the school or child care program.
The paper
Utah vaccine exemption form issued by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, religious belief. The state publishes the form. Finish the state's education class first. How long it lasts: None while the child stays enrolled in Utah's public education system; the law and the state rule state no period for child care or private school. Open the form
Source. le.utah.gov, immunize.utah.gov
Get the state form
Choice 2. Personal belief exemption
The state says
The law calls this a personal exemption, for a personal or religious belief.In the online lesson you pick Personal.You get the form free after the lesson, about 15 minutes.Or you can meet in person at a local health department, for a fee of up to $25.Give a copy of the form to the school or child care program.The form stays good while your child stays in Utah's public school system.The law does not say how long it lasts for child care or a private school.
You do
1.Do the online lesson.2.Pick Personal and choose the shots.3.Print the form.4.Give a copy to the school or child care program.
The paper
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
An exemption is a paper that lets a child skip a shot.A medical exemption needs two papers:1.The state's vaccination exemption form.2.A note signed by a licensed health care provider.The note says the shot would put your child's life or health in danger.You get the form free after a short online lesson.Or you can meet in person at a local health department, for a fee of up to $25.The form stays good while your child stays in Utah's public school system.The law does not say how long it lasts for child care or a private school.
You do
1.Do the online lesson.2.Pick Medical and print the form.3.Get the signed note from the health care provider.

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

Utah

Your choices

Choice 1. Religious exemption

Choice 2. Personal belief exemption

Choice 3. The shot record

Choice 4. Medical exemption

Good to know