School-required vaccine exemptions

Colorado law requires all students attending Colorado schools and licensed child cares to be vaccinated against certain diseases unless they have a Certificate of Medical or Nonmedical Exemption on file at the school. You are responsible for filing a Certificate of Exemption with each school or child care you/your child attends. Learn more about SB 20-163, School Entry Immunization.

Students with an immunization exemption on file may be kept out of a child care facility or school during a disease outbreak. The length of time will vary depending on the type of the disease and the circumstances of the outbreak.

For example, if someone at your child’s school becomes sick with measles and your child has not received an MMR vaccine, they may need to stay home from their program for 21 days.

When exempting a student from one or more school-required vaccines, a student’s parent or legal guardian, an emancipated student with documentation, or a student 18 years or older is responsible for:

• Submitting a Certificate of Exemption to each school or child care the student attends and maintaining the Certificate of Exemption by:
  1. Making sure your or your child’s exemption status is reflected in the Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS). 
     Exemptions submitted to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) will be added to CIIS. Records in CIIS are private and confidential. 
     and/or
  2. Personally keeping a physical or electronic copy of your/your child’s Certificate of Exemption. 
• Check with your/your child’s child care or school to learn if they require a physical copy of the Certificate of Exemption. 

While vaccine providers are required to report medical and nonmedical exemptions to CIIS, you can also contact CDPHE to add your child’s information to the system. To add your/your student’s Certificate of Exemption to CIIS:

Adding the Certificate of Exemption to CIIS allows schools to verify exemption information, but it does not allow them to access a physical copy of the form. The State does not retain or archive hard copies of Certificates of Exemptions.

• Nonmedical exemptions submitted via the Online Immunization Education Module are automatically entered into CIIS by CDPHE staff within two to three business days. 

Note: Under Colorado law, you can remove your/your child’s immunization and exemption information from CIIS at any time. This is called an opt-out. If you change your mind in the future, you will be responsible for submitting a rescind opt-out form. You may then ask your vaccine provider to re-enter your/your child’s immunization record into CIIS.

• Opting out of having records entered or maintained in CIIS does not mean you have exempted yourself/your child from receiving school-required vaccines.
• It is strongly recommended that you make a copy of your vaccine record from CIIS before opting out. All immunization information will be permanently deleted upon submitting the opt-out form. You are responsible for keeping your/your child’s immunization records.
• If you or your child has opted out of CIIS, completing the Online Immunization Module will not opt you back into CIIS.
• If you submit any certificates of exemption to CDPHE and you or your child are opted out of CIIS, your exemptions will not be processed into the registry system. It is your responsibility to give a copy of your exemption certificate to the school and save it for your records.

Do not use this process when exempting yourself/your child from work-required vaccines or vaccines that are not required for child care or school (K-12) in the state of Colorado. Vaccines not currently required for school include:

• COVID-19. 
• Hepatitis A (HepA). 
• Human papillomavirus (HPV). 
• Influenza (flu). 
• Meningococcal disease (MenACWY and MenB). 
• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
• Rotavirus (RV).

If you have questions about receiving a workplace vaccine exemption, contact your employer directly.

• Find information on health care worker influenza vaccine requirements.
• Find information on immunization requirements for college or university students.

Immunization Branch contacts.