Section 80. Exemptions from immunization requirements

A. Religious and medical exemptions. No certificate of immunization shall be required of any student for admission to school if:

1. The student or his parent or guardian submits a notarized Certificate of Religious Exemption (Form CRE 1), to the admitting official of the school to which the student is seeking admission. Form CRE 1 is an affidavit stating that the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with the student's religious tenets or practices. The form is available on the Division of Immunization website at http://www.vdh.virginia.gov//Epidemiology/Immunization/requirements.htm; or

2. The school has written certification on either of the documents specified under "documentary proof" in 12VAC5-110-10 from a physician, registered nurse, or a local health department that one or more of the required immunizations may be detrimental to the student's health. Such certification of medical exemption shall specify the nature and probable duration of the medical condition or circumstance that contraindicates immunization.

3. Upon the identification of an outbreak, potential epidemic, or epidemic of a vaccine-preventable disease in a public or private school, the commissioner has the authority to require the exclusion from such school of all children who are not immunized against that disease.

B. Demonstration of existing immunity. The demonstration in a student of antibodies against mumps, measles, rubella, or varicella in sufficient quantity to ensure protection of that student against that disease, shall render that student exempt from the immunization requirements contained in 12VAC5-110-70 for the disease in question. Such protection should be demonstrated by means of a serological testing method appropriate for measuring protective antibodies against mumps, measles, rubella, or varicella respectively. Reliable history of chickenpox disease diagnosed or verified by a health care provider shall render students exempt from varicella requirements.

C. HPV vaccine. Because the human papillomavirus is not communicable in a school setting, a parent or guardian, at the parent's or guardian's sole discretion, may elect for the parent's or guardian's child not to receive the HPV vaccine, after having reviewed materials describing the link between the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer approved for such use by the board.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR355-28-300 § 3.2, eff. August 13, 1992; amended, Volume 26, Issue 11, eff. March 3, 2010; Volume 32, Issue 07, eff. January 14, 2016.

Statutory Authority

§§ 22.1-271.2, 32.1-12, and 32.1-46 of the Code of Virginia.