According to Iowa State Law and the Administrative code, exemptions to vaccinations necessary to enroll in school are allowed under two conditions: Medical and Religious. Home-schooled children are not required file an exemption form. Though the wording below sounds as if your request for an exemption must be approved, the letter of the law has no approval process as long as the exemption letter or form is clearly filled out and notarized. Your local bank will usually notarize any document for free.
641—7.3(139A) Persons excluded. Exclusions to these rules are permitted on an individual basis for medical and religious reasons. Applicants approved for medical or religious exemptions shall submit to the admitting official a valid Iowa department of public health certificate of immunization exemption.
7.3(3) Medical and religious exemptions under this rule do not apply in times of emergency or epidemic as determined by the state board of health and declared by the director of public health
Click here to view the full wording of the Administrative code Chapter 7.
Click here to view the full wording of the Iowa Code 138a.8(6).
Click here to view the Immunization and School Exclusion Memo from Attorney General Tom Miller
Current Religious Exemption Form PDF
Religion is a very private matter. Your use of the Religious Exemption must be for sincere religiously held beliefs. It is not valid for philosophical, scientific, moral, personal, or medical opposition to immunizations.
If you would like to see a philosophical exemption added, please contact your legislator and join as a member to help us make this option open for all who hold philosophical, scientific, moral, or personal opposition to immunizations. Not sure who your legislators are? Find them here.
.7.3(2) A religious exemption may be granted to an applicant if immunization conflicts with a genuine and sincere religious belief. a. To be valid, a certificate of immunization exemption for religious reasons shall contain, at a minimum, the applicant’s last name, first name, and date of birth and shall bear the signature of the applicant or, if the applicant is a minor, of the applicant’s parent or guardian and shall attest that immunization conflicts with a genuine and sincere religious belief and that the belief is in fact religious and not based merely on philosophical, scientific, moral, personal, or medical opposition to immunizations. b. The certificate of immunization exemption for religious reasons is valid only when notarized.
Current Medical Exemption Form PDF
Medical Exemptions can be for just one vaccine, all of them, or a combination of vaccines. Be sure to discuss with your doctor any autoimmune issues your child has, if you have an immuno-compromised family member, if the child has had any previous reactions to a vaccine, or any allergies to the various ingredients in each vaccine. For more information, become a member and join us on Facebook.
7.3(1) To be valid, a certificate of immunization exemption for medical reasons shall contain, at a minimum, the applicant’s last name, first name, and date of birth, the vaccine(s) exempted, and an expiration date (if applicable) and shall bear the signature of a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. A medical exemption may be granted to an applicant when, in the opinion of a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant: a. The required immunizations would be injurious to the health and well-being of the applicant or any member of the applicant’s family or household. In this circumstance, a medical exemption may apply to a specific vaccine(s) or all required vaccines. If, in the opinion of the physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant issuing the medical exemption, the exemption should be terminated or reviewed at a future date, an expiration date shall be recorded on the certificate of immunization exemption; or b. Administration of the required vaccine would violate minimum interval spacing. In this circumstance, an exemption shall apply only to an applicant who has not received prior doses of the exempted vaccine. An expiration date, not to exceed 60 calendar days, and the name of the vaccine exempted shall be recorded on the certificate of exemption.
2012 Medical/Religious PDF
Many parents object to the wording of the new exemption form. This is the old form. If you are feeling feisty and would like to contest the use of the new form you may use this. You may however, get some push back. The law does not state that an official IDPH form must be used. (see above)