Ohio Allows Vaccine Exemptions for K-12

The state of Ohio has 3 types of exemptions: Medical and Reasons of Conscience, including Religious convictions.

Medical exemptions require a signature from a licensed physician in the state of Ohio. 

Exemptions for reason of conscience, including religious conviction require a signed written statement from the parent or guardian submitted to the school upon enrollment. There is no pre-written statement or form that you are required to submit for public school. The statement provided to you on this website is just one example. To download this file click here:

Immunization Exemption Statement.pdf

For a current list of vaccine doses that would require an exemption for entry into public schools in Ohio, please check the Ohio Department of Health website here.

What if you've turned in a vaccine exemption statement for your K-12 child yet the school is giving you a hard time? They are requesting that you sign a specific form, or stating they never received your exemption statement. What can you do now?

If the school is failing to communicate exemptions in written or verbal notifications or requesting that you sign a specific form for an exemption, consider the following:

1. Read the Ohio Legislative Service Commission (LSC) Review of 3313.671. A written and signed statement by a parent is all that is required. You are not required to fill out or complete a specific form. A member of the clergy is not required to sign or support the parent's written statement. Provide a copy of the Ohio LSC Review to the school by downloading and printing: LSC Review 3313.671.pdf.
2. Call or email the school nurse or other staff who is failing to communicate exemptions or denying your written statement. Politely let them know that you are informed of your rights under Ohio Revised Code 3313.671. Ask them to provide a reference showing where it says you are required to fill out the school form.
3. Consider sending an email with all the forms and communications from the school to your State Representative, State Senator, District Superintendent, and Ohio Board of Education Member, being sure to copy the school principal and nurse on the emails. Explain that you are complying with the law, but the school isn’t allowing it and is threatening to add your child to the exclusion list. Link to find your Ohio Board of Education Member. Link to find your Ohio State Legislator.   

Sample email communication:

To Whom It May Concern:

It has come to my attention that an omission has occurred in the language used to notify parents of vaccine requirements as it relates to Kindergarten, 7th, or 12th grade admission and Ohio Revised Code.

According to ORC 3313.671 (B) (4): 

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3313.671

“A pupil who presents a written statement of the pupil's parent or guardian in which the parent or guardian declines to have the pupil immunized for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions, is not required to be immunized."

An Ohio Legislative Service Commission (LSC) review of the law, further clarifies by stating:

https://healthfreedomohio.org/resources/Documents/LSC%20Review%203313.671.pdf

"Under current law, a student who presents a written statement of the student's parent or guardian in which the parent or guardian declined to have the student immunized for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions, is not required to be immunized. The statute does not require the parent or guardian to complete or fill out a form. Instead, the statute specifies only that a written statement be submitted. It also does not require the parent or guardian to obtain a signature or statement from the parent's or guardian's clergy member supporting the reasons of conscience or religious convictions exemption."

Parents have the legal right to be fully and accurately informed about the benefits and risks of a medical intervention, including a pharmaceutical product, and be free to make a voluntary decision about whether to accept the risk for their minor child without being misled, coerced, punished, or discriminated for the decision they make. 

Being fully and accurately informed of the law in all notifications provided by the district, whether verbal or written, is part of the information a parent needs to make an informed decision. As an individual who values parental rights and freedom of bodily autonomy, I ask that all future notifications include information regarding ORC 3313.671 (B) (4).

Thank you for your time and attention to this sensitive matter. I look forward to working with you on bringing an honest and accurate representation of ORC 3313.671 to the parents of our district.

Sincerely,

If the school is stating they never received your exemption statement, consider the following:

1. If you decide to take your exemption statement in personally, ask for a signed and dated receipt of your statement before leaving the office. You can have the office worker sign this statement of receipt: Exemption from Immunization Statemement of Rec.pdf
2. If they refuse to sign and date your receipt, or in any way deny you physical proof that your statement has been received, do not leave it with them. Take it to the post office and send your statement certified; pay the additional fee to attach the physical return signature receipt card to the envelope.

All of this can be done in a very formal, friendly way. If you have any questions, need clarification or assistance, please email us at info@healthfreedomohio.org. 

ORC 3313.671 Proof of required immunizations - exceptions.

(A) (1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, no pupil, at the time of initial entry or at the beginning of each school year, to an elementary or high school for which the state board of education prescribes minimum standards pursuant to division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code, shall be permitted to remain in school for more than fourteen days unless the pupil presents written evidence satisfactory to the person in charge of admission, that the pupil has been immunized by a method of immunization approved by the department of health pursuant to section 3701.13 of the Revised Code against mumps, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, rubeola, and rubella or is in the process of being immunized.

(2) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, no pupil who begins kindergarten at an elementary school subject to the state board of education's minimum standards shall be permitted to remain in school for more than fourteen days unless the pupil presents written evidence satisfactory to the person in charge of admission that the pupil has been immunized by a department of health-approved method of immunization or is in the process of being immunized against both of the following:

(a) During or after the school year beginning in 1999, hepatitis B;

(b) During or after the school year beginning in 2006, chicken pox.

(3) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, during and after the school year beginning in 2016, no pupil who is the age or older than the age at which immunization against meningococcal disease is recommended by the state department of health shall be permitted to remain in a school subject to the state board of education's minimum standards for more than fourteen days unless the pupil presents written evidence satisfactory to the person in charge of admission that the pupil has been immunized by a department of health-approved method of immunization, or is in the process of being immunized, against meningococcal disease.

(4) As used in divisions (A)(1) , (2), and (3) of this section, "in the process of being immunized" means the pupil has been immunized against mumps, rubeola, rubella, and chicken pox, and if the pupil has not been immunized against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease, the pupil has received at least the first dose of the immunization sequence, and presents written evidence to the pupil's building principal or chief administrative officer of each subsequent dose required to obtain immunization at the intervals prescribed by the director of health. Any student previously admitted under the "in process of being immunized" provision and who has not complied with the immunization intervals prescribed by the director of health shall be excluded from school on the fifteenth day of the following school year. Any student so excluded shall be readmitted upon showing evidence to the student's building principal or chief administrative officer of progress on the director of health's interval schedule.

(B)

(1) A pupil who has had natural rubeola, and presents a signed statement from the pupil's parent, guardian, or physician to that effect, is not required to be immunized against rubeola.

(2) A pupil who has had natural mumps, and presents a signed statement from the pupil's parent, guardian, or physician to that effect, is not required to be immunized against mumps.

(3) A pupil who has had natural chicken pox, and presents a signed statement from the pupil's parent, guardian, or physician to that effect, is not required to be immunized against chicken pox.

(4) A pupil who presents a written statement of the pupil's parent or guardian in which the parent or guardian declines to have the pupil immunized for reasons of conscience, including religious convictions, is not required to be immunized.

(5) A child whose physician certifies in writing that such immunization against any disease is medically contraindicated is not required to be immunized against that disease.

(C) As used in this division, "chicken pox epidemic" means the occurrence of cases of chicken pox in numbers greater than expected in the school's population or for a particular period of time.

Notwithstanding division (B) of this section, a school may deny admission to a pupil otherwise exempted from the chicken pox immunization requirement if the director of the state department of health notifies the school's principal or chief administrative officer that a chicken pox epidemic exists in the school's population. The denial of admission shall cease when the director notifies the principal or officer that the epidemic no longer exists.

The board of education or governing body of each school subject to this section shall adopt a policy that prescribes methods whereby the academic standing of a pupil who is denied admission during a chicken pox epidemic may be preserved.

(D) Boards of health, legislative authorities of municipal corporations, and boards of township trustees on application of the board of education of the district or proper authority of any school affected by this section, shall provide at the public expense, without delay, the means of immunization against mumps, poliomyelitis, rubeola, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and hepatitis B to pupils who are not so provided by their parents or guardians.

(E) The department of health shall specify the age at which immunization against meningococcal disease, as required by division (A)(3) of this section, is recommended, and approve a method of immunization against meningococcal disease.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 121, §1, eff. 10/15/2015.

Effective Date: 09-30-1998; 05-06-2005

Ohio Does Not Have Vaccine Requirements for College, Just Reporting