SUBMIT YOUR VACCINE EXEMPTION TO YOUR SCHOOL BEFORE MIDNIGHT July 21, 2011 and AVOID THE REQUIREMENT FOR A HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER’S SIGNATURE ON YOUR EXEMPTION FORM
ESB5005 goes into effect on July 22nd. This means that any philosophical exemptions for vaccine mandates submitted on or after July 22nd will now require a health care practitioner’s signature in order for it to be valid.
TAKING ACTION FROM NOW UNTIL MIDNIGHT on JULY 21st CAN SAVE YOU TIME and MONEY!
Great news: If you have already submitted or submit the current exemption form to your school district before this law goes into effect which is up until midnight on July 21
st, you do not need to obtain a health care practitioner’s signature on it. You can just print and sign the following form yourself:
http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/certifexemption.pdfEven better news: This form DOES NOT need to be resubmitted every year. Once this form is on file, you have completed your requirement. This means that everyone who has already filed a personal belief exemption form with their school IS NOT required to get the new exemption form with a health care practitioner’s signature. These forms apply for the life of the child for the current vaccine schedule. So it is well worth your time and effort to get the current exemption form in to your school before midnight on Thursday evening if you intend to use a personal belief exemption for the first time this year.
If this is your first year submitting an exemption and you are trying to make the deadline, we would suggest printing the form, filling it out, making a copy, and taking it directly to your school’s superintendant’s office if your school office is not open. Have the person in the office stamp the receipt date on both copies. Submit one copy and have the school employee sign your extra copy and date it with a statement of when they received it. File this in a safe place. Now you have proof that you have complied within the proper submission dates if any question arises later.
If by some chance you miss the deadline and have to submit your vaccine exemption to your school on or after July 22, 2011 you will need to have this new state form signed by a licensed health care provider:
http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/coe2011.pdf and then submit it to your school.
Even under this new requirement, YOU DO NOT have to resubmit an exemption form every year. If your school tries to tell you otherwise, let us know. I called the state health department and verified that once either of these forms are submitted, you are done. NO annual resubmission is required. The only time a new form would be needed would be if a vaccine was added to the list of required vaccines after the date you submit your exemption and you wish to decline that vaccine for your child.
If your child switches schools, you can transfer your records and don’t need to fill out a new form.
If you currently homeschool your child and he/she is not fully vaccinated, fill out your own form, sign it and date it before the deadline, keep it safe with your child’s homeschool records, and if you ever happen to enroll your child into a school, you will be able to just transfer the exemption form with other records being transferred and the old exemption will apply because you filled it out and submitted it to yourself before the effective date of this new law.
Please write to our Washington State Directors Janelle Hall and Janine Parque at
[email protected] if you run into any problems.
Sincerely,