How to Get a Vaccine Religious Exemption for Your Child

I’ve been helping parents for the past ten years obtain religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements. I’m not sure how schools have escaped liability for manipulating parents into believing a medical procedure that carries a risk of neurological damage, disease, and death is “required” for their children to obtain an education or play sports. Nonetheless, many have.

Parents often do not question what they’re told, and when they do, they aren’t sure how to exercise their legal rights to opt their child out. This article will help you determine what vaccine exemptions are available in your state and how to obtain a religious exemption for your child.

(See my post on obtaining a religious exemption to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for school and in the workplace here.)

Step 1: Find out which vaccine exemptions your state offers

A prevailing lie is circulating that children can’t attend school unless they have their shots. This simply isn’t true. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccination requirements are determined by state laws. These laws “often apply not only to children attending public schools but also to those attending private schools and daycare facilities.”

All states provide vaccine exemptions, but what’s allowed varies by state. There are only five states whose politicians love money more than Jesus, so unless you belong to one of those states, you’re entitled to an exemption. Full stop.

There are four types of vaccine exemptions:

1. A medical exemption is allowed when a child has a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a vaccine.

2. A religious exemption can be obtained if a parent has a bona fide objection to their child receiving certain vaccines or all vaccines based on their sincerely held religious beliefs.

3. A philosophical exemption allows an individual to opt their child out of vaccination requirements for various reasons: Vegan? Exemption. Bad for your astrological sign? Exemption. Don’t want your child to develop a chronic disease or die? Exemption.

4. A serological exemption can be obtained in most states by showing your child has already developed immunity to certain diseases. This involves providing immunity documentation in the form of a diagnosis, letter, or lab report, such as a titers blood test, from a physician.

Use the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) graphic to see which vaccine exemptions your state offers.

There are two updates to this graphic: Mississippi is now, at least temporarily, required to allow parents to once again obtain a religious exemption for their child. Second, Oregon has combined its religious and philosophical exemptions into a “nonmedical exemption.” You won’t find serological exemption information listed because hardly anyone talks about it. So, consider yourself “in the know.”

With the exception of five states—California, New York, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Maine—all other states allow religious vaccine exemptions. Some states also offer a philosophical or nonmedical exemption.

If you’re a proud resident of one of the five states listed above, your child must have a valid medical exemption to get around vaccination requirements—something that is not easy to obtain in places like California and New York. (Use this list to determine which states are best to live in and move to if you’re currently living in tyranny.)

Step 2: Look at the requirements for obtaining a religious exemption in your state

The process for obtaining a religious exemption varies by state. Some states require a book on your religious beliefs and closely scrutinize your argument. Other states simply require that you fill out a card stating that you object to all or certain vaccines for religious reasons. Some states require that your medical provider—who has no theological training whatsoever—sign your form, which will state which vaccines you object to and why. Some states require that you go through their exemption process each year, while other states have a one-and-done policy.

To find out what your state requires to obtain a religious exemption, you can look at the CDC’s very confusing website, or you can go to NVIC’s website, select your state on the map, and from the drop-down menus, select “K-12 School Information.”

For example: In Missouri, you must visit your local health department and request a vaccine exemption card. You select which vaccines you object to, sign, and turn it in to the school. That’s it. You’re done. If this is the case for your state, you don’t need to move on to the other steps in this post.

Yet, for residents of Illinois, you must fill out a form and explain the religious reasons you’re objecting to each vaccine and must have this form signed by a medical provider. A new form is then filed each year with your child’s school.

Step 3: Cite the law

If you must explain yourself on a religious exemption form or in a letter, you should point to the law that gives you the authority to obtain a religious exemption for your child.

In Illinois, this is “Title 77 of the Illinois Administrative Code, Chapter 1, Subchapter i, Part 665, Section 665.510.”

Title 77 of the Illinois Administrative Code, Chapter 1, Subchapter i, Part 665, Section 665.510 gives me the right as a parent to object to my child’s vaccinations on religious grounds and provides a means for obtaining an exemption to vaccination requirements.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to convince the school you’re legally entitled to an exemption. You have the right to a religious exemption because the law in your state says you do.

Step 4: Center your argument around your sincerely held religious beliefs

If the religious exemption process requires an explanation, keep it centered around your sincerely held religious beliefs. Your religious objections have nothing to do with safety studies, vaccine injuries, what’s moral or ethical, or your beliefs in bodily autonomy.

If you go down this road, you should prepare yourself for a denial. Many states are conditioned to scrutinize religious exemptions based on arguments you would use for the philosophical exemption. They then deny you on the grounds that you argued for an exemption they don’t offer. ...