Medical Exemption Update
On behalf of the County Public Health Schools Team, I am sharing the following information regarding Medical Exemptions.
With the new school year around the corner, there are many questions about Medical Exemptions. First, I want to confirm that any Medical Exemptions issued by Dr. Ron Kennedy have been revoked. Any student who received a Medical Exemption from Dr. Ron Kennedy will need to either obtain a new exemption from a licensed physician OR will need to obtain the required vaccinations in order to be admitted to school.
While this won’t impact every school, I would like to share information on Medical Exemptions to help answer some of the general questions.
If you have any questions regarding immunizations and medical exemptions, please contact County Health officials by email (siobhan.macIver@sonoma-county.org).
Steven D. Herrington, Ph.D.
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools
On behalf of the County Public Health Schools Team, I am sharing the following information regarding Medical Exemptions.
With the new school year around the corner, there are many questions about Medical Exemptions. First, I want to confirm that any Medical Exemptions issued by Dr. Ron Kennedy have been revoked. Any student who received a Medical Exemption from Dr. Ron Kennedy will need to either obtain a new exemption from a licensed physician OR will need to obtain the required vaccinations in order to be admitted to school.
While this won’t impact every school, I would like to share information on Medical Exemptions to help answer some of the general questions.
- Children must have their first round of required vaccines to start the school year. Here is a handy two page sheet that you can reference to see the schedule of first and subsequent doses. https://eziz.org/assets/docs/IMM-231.pdf
- Temporary Medical Exemptions are available for parents that want to use an alternate schedule for vaccines. Parents will need to create an account on CAIR-ME, https://cair.cdph.ca.gov/exemptions/home (Instructions can be found here https://eziz.org/assets/docs/shotsforschool/IMM-1363.pdf, also in Spanish https://eziz.org/assets/docs/shotsforschool/IMM-1363S.pdf) and have their provider complete the request for a Temporary Medical Exemption. The Temporary Medical Exemption will have to be in place before children can be admitted to school.
- From page 17 of the California Immunization Handbook: Children admitted with a temporary medical exemption to one or more immunization(s) as documented by a physician (MD or DO) licensed in California prior to admission. To attend child care or school, these children must receive all vaccines except those listed in the exemption. For temporary exemptions, the CAIRME medical exemption form will include the date by which the exemption expires and can be no longer than 12 calendar months from the date the exemption is issued. Once this expiration date has occurred, the child may continue in attendance only after the school or child care receives documentation of receipt of the temporarily exempted vaccines or a new medical exemption issued using CAIR-ME.
- For general questions, here is a link to FAQ for Medical Exemptions, https://www.shotsforschool.org/laws/exemptions/
- For in depth information on immunizations for school, California Immunization Handbook, https://eziz.org/assets/docs/shotsforschool/IMM-365.pdf
If you have any questions regarding immunizations and medical exemptions, please contact County Health officials by email (siobhan.macIver@sonoma-county.org).
Steven D. Herrington, Ph.D.
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools
