Exemptions to school-required vaccines

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 providing a Certificate of Exemption to each school or child care you or your child attends. 

Students with an immunization exemption on file may be kept out of school or child care during a disease outbreak. The length of time will vary depending on the type of 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 at least 21 days. 

When exempting from one or more school-required vaccines, a student’s parent or guardian, an emancipated student, or a student 18 years or older is responsible for  keeping a physical or electronic copy of their Certificate of Medical or Nonmedical Exemption.

• It is the parent or guardian or student’s responsibility to provide a physical or electronic copy of the Certificate of Medical or Nonmedical Exemption to each school that the student attends.
• CDPHE does not retain or archive copies of an individual’s Certificates of Medical or Nonmedical Exemptions.

Opting out of the Colorado Immunization Information System

If you would like to have your or your child’s immunization information excluded from the Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS), you must follow the standard CIIS opt-out procedure. Visit the CIIS Opt-Out and Rescind Opt-Out Procedures webpage for more information.

• Opting out of having records entered or maintained in CIIS does not mean you or your child has completed an exemption from receiving one or more 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. 

Vaccine providers are required to submit medical and nonmedical exemption information to CIIS.

Adding exemption information to CIIS allows schools to verify exemption information, but it does not allow access to a physical or electronic copy of the student’s Certificate of Medical or Nonmedical Exemption required for school attendance. 

Do not use this process when exempting you or 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)

Find information on immunization requirements for college or university students. 

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

Find information on health care worker influenza vaccine requirements.